Fireflies
by alexanderhamifan02
Summary: Aunt Cass sends Hiro, Tadashi, and the gang away to New York City for three weeks so that she can enter the cafe in a convention. However, the townhouse they rent out may be more of a problem than they originally thought. "You don't really believe in the paranormal, do you, Hiro?"
1. The Glowing Attic

**spooky.**

* * *

Hiro stepped out onto the roof of the cafe, breathing in the unsanitary air of the night. The city bustled this time of day, and he never missed stepping out to enjoy a few moments to himself. After all, a bustling city meant a bustling cafe, so he was always overwhelmed by the number of people in his home.

He sighed loudly, sitting on the edge of the roof and swinging his legs. Passersby from below didn't even acknowledge his presence, and he liked that. In fact, he very much appreciated the privacy and he often hated when strangers tried to talk to him.

He was an introvert, and he suffered from anxiety, whether he liked to admit that or not.

Tadashi picked up on this quickly, and he was always first to be there for Hiro no matter what. He appreciated it his brother's constant nagging for sure, but sometimes, perfection was exhausting.

"Hiro! I told you to stop coming out here, bonehead, I don't want something bad to happen or for you to fall."

 _Exhibit A,_ Hiro thought, turning his head to see Tadashi slowly walking toward Hiro and taking a seat beside him.

"You should probably be packing anyway," Tadashi pointed out. "We're leaving in two hours."

"Why are we leaving so late at night?" Hiro groaned, running a hand through his long, ruffled hair. Tadashi chuckled, nudging Hiro lightly in the shoulder.

"Because that's when our flight leaves," Tadashi replied. "What, you don't want to go anymore?"

"No, of course, I do!" Hiro said, waving his hand to dismiss the thought. "I just haven't slept much lately, that's all."

"I know, but you can sleep during the flight. It's a ten-hour plane ride, you know."

"Yeah," Hiro laughed lightly. It was true, they were about to travel across the country and stay at a rental home in New York City with Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Gogo, and Fred. Aunt Cass was having a baking convention for three weeks, so she was sending them off for nearly a month so that she could be with her friends and enter the cafe in the convention. The prize was one million dollars and expensive baking supplies, so Cass was eager to get her hands on the cash and finally be able to provide for herself and her family. Tadashi and Hiro rushed to explain that she had provided for them since day one and that she should put the money aside for emergencies, but she insisted that it was the least she could do for her small family of five (Tadashi, Hiro, Mochi, and Baymax, of course.)

Hiro smiled slightly at the thought, and he stood from his spot on the roof, making Tadashi jump up after him.

"Careful," Tadashi scolded. "If you fall off of this roof and get run over on the street, I swear Cass will _never_ forgive me."

"Thanks for that," Hiro rolled his eyes and giggled, going back inside to the apartment. Tadashi followed, ushering Hiro to finish packing. He eventually gave in, shoving as many clothing items as he could into a small suitcase and stuffing his toiletries into a pocket in the bag. He left the most room for a few robotics parts, knowing that he would most likely get bored sitting around in the middle of New York City all day. He also packed several jackets; they lived in California, and traveling to the blistering cold of New York was going to be a challenge for him, especially seeing that it was October.

Hiro realized that they wouldn't be in town for Halloween, and he let out a sigh of relief. Cass always forced Tadashi and Hiro to go to parties and go trick-or-treating even though she knew very well that all the brothers wanted to do was sit in the living with a good horror movie and a few close friends.

Hopefully, they would do just that while they were away.

Hiro proudly zipped his bag shut and grabbed his pillow, looking around the room to make sure he had grabbed everything.

 _Okay, pillow, clothes, tools, charger, headphones, toothbrush..._

Hiro quickly grabbed his laptop also and put it in his bag before turning the lights of his shared bedroom and descending the stairs into the kitchen. Cass was talking with Tadashi and drinking hot tea. Hiro set his stuff aside and went to join them.

"Oh, boys, I'm SO excited for you!" Cass grinned, yanking Hiro's head close to her and ruffling his hair.

"Y-yeah, s-so exict-ting!" Hiro managed through each ruffle, standing up straight and shaking his head,

"Easy, Cass," Tadashi laughed, eyeing Hiro playfully. "He's already got a headache about this whole plane flight."

"Aw, is someone afraid of flying in an airplane for the first time?" Cass teased, taking a sip of her tea.

"Hell yeah, I am!" Hiro said, rolling up the sleeves of his jacket. "Being in the air for ten hours and with all the wind turbulence, that sounds scary."

"We'll be _fine,_ " Tadashi chuckled, checking his watch. "Anyway, Cass, our flight leaves soon. We need to go pick up the others and go to the airport."

"Okay..." Cass rubbed her hands together, looking up at the boys sadly. "What will I do here without you boys for three weeks?"

"Well, you're the one sending us away," Hiro mumbled, reaching over and putting a reassuring hand on hers. "We'll be okay, and so will you. You're going to have a blast at this convention, and you're going to win that prize!"

"Yeah, Cass," Tadashi said, smiling warmly at her. "We'll come back soon, and then we can have a family week together. How's that sound?"

"Of course," Cass grinned, rounding the counter and pulling Tadashi into a tight hug, then Hiro. "Thank you, boys, for understanding. I know you'll have a blast. And you both have money?"

"Well, we both have jobs, so I sure do hope so," Hiro laughed, hugging Cass close. "Yes, we have our plane tickets, your money, and ours. We promise."

"Good. Well, this is it. It's getting dark and it looks like there's a storm coming, so please be safe."

"Bye, Cass!" Tadashi and Hiro said, grabbing their things and going out to Hiro's car. Cass had bought Hiro the car on his fifteenth birthday, along with drivers' education lessons. This year on his sixteenth birthday, he got his license and was able to finally drive himself to work. He had been nervous about driving at first, but with Tadashi's help, he quickly became used to it.

"Be safe!" she called from the front porch, returning to the cafe and waving as Hiro started the car and the boys drove away from the apartment.

"Okay, Hiro, we're picking Wasabi up first."

"Got it," Hiro nodded, turning down Wasabi's street. Cass had ben right; heavy storm clouds were slowly making their way above the city, and Hiro strained to see Wasabi's apartment. Tadashi told him when to stop, and Wasabi was rushing out of the house and putting his stuff into Hiro's backseat.

"Aren't we going to be late?!" Wasabi cried, crawling into the backseat.

"Hello, Wasabi," Hiro laughed, and they were soon off to Fred's mansion.

* * *

After about thirty minutes, everyone was in Hiro's car, and they were going through airline parking. Tadashi was constantly telling Hiro where to turn, and Hiro was growing more and more frustrated. There were signs telling him where to go, and the last thing he needed was for Tadashi to be front-seat-driving.

Finally, the group of six were getting out of the car, gathering their suitcases, and walking to the airline lobby. They went through security, sent their bags away, and were left simply with their phone and their pillows as they waited to board their plane.

They had been sitting next to their boarding area for nearly forty-five minutes. Tadashi was asleep on Hiro's shoulder, Gogo was draped across Honey Lemon's lap, Wasabi tapped his foot restlessly, arms crossed, and Fred was sleeping on Hiro's other shoulder. Hiro's head was killing him, and he could feel the bags under his eyes. It had to be at least ten o'clock at night, and he could hear little drops of rain hitting the windows outside. Maybe that was why they were waiting for so long; there was probably a storm due, and the flights were probably all delayed.

"Attention, flyers," A man spoke over a microphone, and Hiro and Wasabi both stiffened at his voice. "To all attendants that have not yet boarded the flight to New York City, due to leave at eight o'clock, your flight is boarding in thirty minutes. Due to weather complications, the following ticket holders will be boarding a separate flight to New York leaving in fifteen minutes. If your ticket is called, gather your things and board plane 2A. Here are the tickets."

The man then listed the tickets, and Hiro quickly reached over and grabbed Tadashi, Fred, Honey Lemon, and Gogo's tickets. Wasabi glanced down at his own, listening to the voice above.

"..number 45, and number 48. Thank you for choosing to fly with us and have a goodnight."

"They didn't call mine," Wasabi said, sighing in relief.

"Yeah, well they called me," Hiro rolled his eyes, grabbing his pillow and causing Tadashi and Fred to sit up straight, rubbing their eyes and looking around.

"Hiro, what are you doing? Did they call our flight yet?"

" _Your_ flight leaves in thirty minutes," Hiro explained. "There's a storm and a delay, so they're sending two planes to New York for some reason. They switched me over so I have to go."

"A-are you serious?" Tadashi scoffed, standing up straight and grabbing his brother's arm. "I'm not letting you fly to New York alone! Can't you just sneak on with us?"

"My name is on my ticket, and they'll send me over no matter what. I'll be fine, okay?" Hiro put a hand on Tadashi's shoulder. "I have to go. Plane 2A is leaving in fifteen and I have to board."

"Damn it," Tadashi rubbed a hand over his face, pulling Hiro into a hug. "Call me the second you land-"

"You won't be able to answer, knucklehead, you'll be in the air. You can call me when you land."

"Jesus, this is so messed up," Tadashi groaned, pulling out of the hug. "Don't talk to strangers, and try to get a seat by yourself, promise?"

"Promise," Hiro nodded, giving Tadashi a handful of the other's tickets and walking toward his flight gate. He turned back at Tadashi and waved, and Tadashi waved back longingly. He tried to ignore Tadashi's sad look, knowing how he got when Hiro had to do things on his own. Even when Hiro got his license and got a job at the skating rink with Gogo, Tadashi was nervous and upset. He was Hiro's father figure, and he was uncomfortable with the fact that Hiro was growing up.

He sighed nonetheless, giving an employee his ticket. She smiled at him and told him to enjoy his flight. Hiro thanked her, hugging his pillow tightly and walking through the terminal to his flight.

He probably should have just snuck on with Tadashi after all.

* * *

After a long flight full of rain and headaches, Hiro's plane landed and he was quickly walking through the terminal and collapsing in the waiting room. Quite honestly, that flight made him extremely nauseous, and he was ready for the others to arrive so that they could leave and go to the rental apartment. He had no idea how long that would be, however, so he put his pillow behind his head and closed his eyes, hoping to get in a few minutes of sleep.

He sat there for forty-five minutes, checking his phone constantly for updates from Tadashi only to get a few occasional texts from his friends. He sighed, tapping his fingers impatiently on his leg. They hadn't left that far apart from each other, so what was taking them so long? He was beginning to grow worried, noticing that the sun was just now rising in the city and it was lightly raining just as it had been in California.

Suddenly, his phone began buzzing, and he was quick to accept the call without even glancing at the caller ID.

"This is Hiro," he said, voice shaky.

"Hiro! We're off of our flight, where are you?" Honey Lemon was yelling excitedly into the phone, causing Hiro to flinch.

"Hey Honey Lemon, I'm in waiting room 2A."

"Okay! Well, we're waiting for our bags and we have yours. We'll be over there in-"

"Is that Hiro on the phone?" Hiro heard Tadashi call faintly, and he laughed lightly in relief.

"I guess I'll see you at baggage claim?" Hiro asked, preparing to hang up the phone.

"Yes, we'll see you there-"

"Hiro, are you here?" Tadashi must have taken the phone, breathing heavily and asking Hiro several questions. "Are you in the right city? Are we at the same airport? Did you get mugged? Are-"

"Hi Tadashi, I'm heading to baggage claim," Hiro said, hanging up the call much to Tadashi's protest. He grabbed his pillow and began walking to said area. He didn't have to walk the whole way, however, spotting Tadashi through the crowd of people. He called his brother's name, and Tadashi perked at the call, jogging over to Hiro and giving him a hug.

"You knucklehead," Tadashi laughed, looking Hiro up and down. "How was your flight?"

"Nauseating," Hiro said, taking his suitcase from Tadashi. "But I lived. Unfortunately, I got a seat next to who I'm pretty sure was a registered sex offender. Sorry."

"What?!"

"Hiro, my man!" Fred interrupted the conversation, clapping a hand on Hiro's shoulder. "Our flight was boring as hell, what about you?"

"I'm just ready to get to the apartment," Hiro admitted, earning groans of agreement from the group.

"Right," Tadashi said, pulling a ring of keys from his pocket. "Just got our rental keys."

"Well, let's hit it, ladies," Gogo grinned, snatching the keys from Tadashi and leading the way to the parking lot.

* * *

The group soon arrived where they would be staying; a townhouse in the center of the Big Apple. It was dark red, and the third floor of the house had faded, black paint on it. Tadashi got out of the car, staring up at the building, clearly deep in thought. Hiro laughed at that, getting out of the driver's seat and helping everyone out.

"Yo, Tadashi, are you okay?" Hiro laughed, handing Tadashi his bag and nudging his shoulder. Tadashi didn't move, eyes still fixed on the building. Hiro raised an eyebrow, standing in front of his brother and waving a hand. "Tadashi? Dude."

Tadashi shook his head, looking at Hiro in confusion.

"S-sorry," he said quickly, accepting his bag and making his way to the house. Hiro tilted his head, watching Tadashi go up the stairs in shock.

 _The hell just happened?_

* * *

After about five minutes in the house, each person had picked out a room. Tadashi got the first floor, along with Wasabi. Fred got the living room couch. Honey Lemon and Gogo got the two bedrooms on the second floor.

Hiro, though, got the attic.

He dropped his suitcase on the ground and threw his pillow on the bed, sighing and looking around the slanted room. The roof was fairly tall, and the walls were painted black. The floor creaked, of course, and the bed was a twin bed right below a large window overlooking the city. He loved being able to look out of a window at night, so he was grateful for the glass. The rest of the room needed cleaning, however, and Hiro was willing to do just that.

"Hey, Hiro, are you sure you don't want to switch with me?" Tadashi said from the stairs of the attic, glancing into Hiro's room before ascending the rest of the stairs and standing beside his brother. "Because I would be more than willing-"

"No, by all means, you should stay on the bottom floor," Hiro said, patting Tadashi's shoulder and bending down to unpack his suitcase. "But are you alright? You kind of dozed off when you got out of the car a minute ago."

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't remember? It was wild, you weren't answering a thing I was saying, and you went all stiff."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Tadashi shrugged, turning and going down the stairs. Hiro bolted to a standing position, watching him go with a troubled look.

"So then what the hell happened?" Hiro whispered, shaking his head and continuing to unpack.

Suddenly, from a closet in the attic, a large thump came from the door, and Hiro fell on his side out of shock. He looked up, staring at the closet door in suspense. Slowly he stood, walking to the closet and yanking the door open, expecting something horrible to await him only to find it full of coats. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, backing away from the closet and going down the stairs to be in the company of his friends.

His anxiety must be acting up because he was definitely hearing things.

* * *

Wasabi had gone out to the city and ordered everyone pizza. That night, they all sat around the old, creaky dining room table, talking about their airplane adventures and what their plans were for the next three weeks. Hiro glanced across the table at Tadashi, concern taking over as he realized that his brother had his head in his hands. He must be suffering from a headache like Hiro always was.

"Tadashi, are you alright?" Fred spoke up, and Hiro mentally thanked the comic-lover. Tadashi sat up straight, looking at everyone's staring eyes and nodding his head.

"Oh, god-of course! Sorry, I just have a bit of a headache, and I keep hearing a weird thumping sound from upstairs. Do you guys hear that too?"

"No," everyone said in unison. All but Hiro, who stiffened at the statement.

"A little bit," he mumbled, taking a bite of his pizza and standing to dispose of it. He sat back down, laughing lightly as the group started another conversation.

 _So Tadashi could hear that thumping noise too...?_

* * *

Hiro tiredly retreated to his room that night, remembering the fact that he only slept two hours on his ten-hour flight earlier that day and he desperately needed rest.

When he trudged up the final step to the attic, he stopped short and nearly screamed, grabbing onto the railing and gaping at his room in awe.

Floating around his room were dozens of fireflies, brighter than the window overlooking New York City. They flew slowly, making circular motions around the center of the attic. Hiro slowly walked inside of the circle, gently spinning around as they flew around him and made his skin glow. In fact, Hiro looked down at his hands, choking at what he saw.

His fingertips were glowing. Glowing golden, and slowly spreading to the rest of his hand and down his arm. He panicked, trying to rub it onto his pants, but to no avail. His breathing picked up, and as his glowing skin touched his clothes, his clothes became red hot and turned yellow. Hiro held down a yelp of pain from the heat, looking up at the bugs and swatting them away to make them stop. They continued flying, immune to Hiro's hits. He cursed under his breath, grabbing his phone to use as a mirror and covering his mouth to see that the gold had traveled to his neck, slowly making its way to his face. He tried rubbing it off, he tried pouring water on it from his nightstand, but nothing worked. He collapsed on his bed, shaking in defeat as the gold traveled through Hiro's hair and burned his scalp.

The second the last of the gold flowed through a streak in his hair, the fireflies suddenly disappeared, and Hiro was suddenly on the floor. He inhaled a large breath, choking and sputtering on the ground. He sat bolt upright, fearfully crawling into his bed and not even bothering to change into his pajamas. His heart was beating loudly, shaking the mattress with each thump. He slowly closed his eyes and tried to recollect himself only to fall asleep, haunted by dreams of thumping closets and fireflies.

* * *

 **don't know if any of that made sense but this is just an idea, i love horror movies and i've been trying to pitch this idea for years. just needed a template.**


	2. Frozen in Fireflies

**high-key suggest listening to "Oxygene" on the minecraft album C418 during that firefly scene last chapter it makes it ten times more magical and supernatural than it already was ;)**

* * *

Hiro's eyes flew open the following morning. He woke and swung his legs over the mattress, his breathing heavy and his forehead dripping with sweat. His dreams had haunted him but his brain couldn't seem to bring himself to wake up.

Shaking his aching head, he glanced at his alarm clock and began to get changed for the day. 7:45 AM and New York was already awake and ready to start the day, unlike Hiro. All he wanted to do was curl up in his creaky mattress and try to forget about last night's events, but he decided that maybe interacting with his group of friends would be a better cure.

Because he was already wearing his clothes from yesterday, he put on a dark purple sweatshirt and black jeans with socks, trudging down the two flights of stairs to the kitchen. Honey Lemon grinned widely at him from the stove as she dumped a batch of bacon on a serving tray. Wasabi and Gogo both tipped their heads at him, taking drinks of their coffee. Fred tiredly and groggily saluted to him, trying to keep his eyes open. Jet lag, he could tell.

His eyes trailed to Tadashi, who was almost just as awake as Honey Lemon. He waved excitedly at Hiro as he prepared another pot of coffee and served Fred a cup. It took Hiro a few seconds to process how lively his brother was being, but he rolled with it, taking a seat at the dining room table and kindly greeting the group.

"How'd you sleep, Hamada?" Gogo asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Fine, I guess," Hiro sighed, drumming his hands on the table lightly. "How about you guys? Did you sleep well?"

Gogo, Wasabi, and Fred all groaned, sinking further into their chairs and taking large swigs of coffee.

"Cheer up," Tadashi laughed, serving them each a plate of bacon and pancakes. "That's just the grumpiness talking! Today, we're going out to see the city, and it's going to be great! So eyes open, people, stay awake!"

Hiro raised an eyebrow at Tadashi, remembering how horrible he had looked the previous night at dinner and how strange he had been acting when they first arrived. What gave? Why was he suddenly so full of life while all but Honey Lemon were suffering from sleep deprivation?

"Tadashi, what are you smoking?"

"Pardon?" Tadashi asked as Honey Lemon coughed down a laugh.

"Yeah, dude," Wasabi said. "Why the hell-no, _how_ the hell are you two so awake? I slept two hours last night."

Tadashi leaned against the counter, eyes widening as he glanced at the people seated at the table.

"Why didn't you morons go to sleep?" he asked, throwing his hands in the air.

"It wasn't a choice," Gogo scoffed. "Had a nightmare and then all I remember was tossing and turning."

Hiro stiffened as the others nodded in agreement. That's exactly what he experienced last night.

 _Something is definitely up with this place._

"Well, I guess Tadashi and I are the only ones who have good sleep schedules," Honey Lemon laughed, nudging Tadashi in the shoulder before returning to the stove. Tadashi looked over at Hiro at the dining room table, his tired posture worrying him.

"So nobody slept?"

"No," the four said, digging into their breakfast. Tadashi bit his lower lip, shifting his gaze to the ground.

"Maybe, then...maybe we shouldn't do anything for today. Maybe we should all just rest and shake off the jet lag. Go back to your beds, or go watch TV, okay?"

"Are you sure?" Wasabi asked, but you didn't have to ask Gogo or Fred twice; the two were jumping up from their spots, running up the stairs and cheering in victory. The others laughed, and Wasabi waved at Tadashi gratefully as he followed suit and walked back up the stairs.

Tadashi smiled in amusement as the scene unfolded, looking back over to Hiro and laughing out loud.

Hiro's head was rested on the table, his snores echoing throughout the small kitchen. Honey Lemon cooed, snapping a quick photo on her phone before Tadashi scooped the teenager into his arms and carried him up to the attic.

As he reached the final step, he stopped short, nearly dropping Hiro at the sight before him. Spread all over the room were hundreds of dead lightning bugs, their wings slightly twitching and their light flickering. Tadashi felt like vomiting, stumbling back just barely and catching himself before he killed his little brother. He looked down at Hiro as he held himself up, however, and when he looked back at the room, the bugs were completely gone, as if they had vanished and nothing had even happened.

Tadashi blinked and shook his head a few times, slowly stepping into the creaky bedroom and stomping the ground. He expected to hear the sound of bugs crunching underneath his converse, but he instead got nothing but the sound of wood cracking, and he cursed under his breath at the new tiny crack on the ground.

"Maybe I should switch bedrooms with Hiro," Tadashi whispered, lightly setting Hiro on his bed. He sighed and made sure everything was secure before dismissing the fireflies as a hallucination and descending the old, wooden steps of the townhouse into his bedroom.

* * *

Wasabi groaned, tossing and turning on his small bed as he woke from another nightmare. He never remembered what his dreams were about, but he did remember that they chilled him to the bone and that they left him feeling gross about every little thing. Not that the neat-freak wasn't already disgusted by daily life, but he'd felt sick to his stomach since they'd arrived, and he would never admit it but he wanted to be home.

 _Maybe I could go talk to someone here that's still awake,_ Wasabi thought, rubbing his chin as he gazed up at the old, stained ceiling. _Yeah, yeah, there's Gogo upstairs, Fred on the couch, Hiro in the attic-_

He stopped short, gripping his forehead as a sudden sharp pain pierced his thoughts, and a voice in the back of his head was repeating _do not go in the attic._ The words weren't exactly clear, but the message was enough for him, and he was jumping out of his bed and going to join Fred on the couch.

* * *

Gogo fisted her sheets in anger, frustrated at her brain's lack of sleep. The more she stared up at the ceiling, the more she wanted to throw up, and the more she on her side, the more uncomfortable she got.

She threw her hands in the air, cursing in frustration and throwing her blanket off of herself.

 _Honey Lemon's not here,_ she noted, realizing the honey-blonde wasn't in the bed across from her. _I don't think she slept in here last night..._

 _Maybe THAT'S why Tadashi and she are so happy..._

Gogo laughed to herself, rubbing her eyes and gazing out the window.

 _The city really is so nice. Not so different from San Fransokyo. Maybe Hiro would want to go on a walk with me into Times Square._

Gogo was quite fond of that idea, so she turned toward the staircase to the attic, tip-toeing up the steep, creaky stairs.

As she was halfway up the stairs, however, a sudden below-zero like breeze blew past her, and she was sent stumbling back down all of the steps. She took in a sharp breath, whipping her head away from the stairs and running to the first floor.

It took a lot to scare the adrenaline junkie, and she was still terrified out of her mind one hour later.

* * *

Fred flipped through random channels on the television in the living room, letting out a huff of defeat. He had officially made three full circles through all of the available programs and had found absolutely nothing. He rolled his eyes and flipped the device off, looking around the quiet house and thinking of possible activities to keep him occupied.

 _Wasabi and I could play chess. Gogo and I could try to set up the game console. Hiro and I could talk in the attic._

Fred shrugged, more than open to the idea of talking with Hiro for a few hours before everyone is ready to go do something fun. He skipped up the stairs to the second floor, whistling quietly.

Suddenly, Gogo whipped around the corner, making Fred stop short and stiffen.

"Oh, hey, Gogo-"

"H-hey there, Fred," Gogo said, shivering through each word. She shoved her way past Fred, jogging down the remaining steps and flying out the front door. Fred tilted his head, watching her go from the window. She looked up at the top floor and grimaced before throwing her hoodie on over her head and shoving her fists in her pockets.

Fred decided he would rather keep trying to find something on the TV than going up to the attic at the moment.

* * *

Tadashi smiled softly as Honey Lemon slept on the end of his bed, snoring quietly and hardly moving. He sighed, standing up from the bed and covering Honey Lemon in a blanket before going into the kitchen to find something to eat. He glanced at the stove clock; 6:23. The day really had swept right out from underneath him, and he was upset that nobody had felt up to going out into the city that day.

Shrugging, he walked up the steps to the second floor to see if Gogo was there. She was always wide awake after a quick nap, and it had been eleven hours since he last saw his friend. He knocked on her bedroom door and quietly opened it, looking around in confusion as he noticed that she wasn't in the room. He frowned, calling her name and going back down the stairs in defeat.

He ran into Fred on the way, who had a flashlight attached to his head and a heavy coat draped over his shoulders. Tadashi raised an eyebrow, looking him up and down with a smirk.

"Fred...what are you doing?"

"H-hey! I definitely wasn't about to go up to the attic or anything like that-"

"Why don't you want me knowing that you were going to visit Hiro? That sounds like a great idea, maybe I'll join y-"

"No!"

Tadashi was taken aback by Fred's shout, covering his ears and squinting his eyes in suspicion.

"Wha-?"

"Listen, man, Gogo went up there around lunch and came back like she saw a ghost or something," Fred said, glancing down the stairs at the main window. "She ran off, her face was pale as a sheet, and I'm _thinking_ that maybe the reason we all had nightmares is that Hiro's got a ghost up there!"

"That's a far stretch," Tadashi laughed, rubbing his arms as a sudden cold breeze blew past him.

"See! There!"

"What?"

"You got cold! Why are we all getting such random shivers and chills?"

"Fred, it's October and we're in New York. It's already fifty degrees out there."

"Maybe so, but you might notice," Fred began, leading Tadashi downstairs and to the air conditioning panel, "that the heating in this house should be working fine and that it's been running since I turned it on at 4:00 AM after a bad dream. Coincidence?"

"Look, Fred, isn't it a little early in our horror movie of yours for us to be jumping to such conclusions? You're just coming up with random ideas and it's-"

"All I'm saying is that I haven't heard from Hiro one bit all day and nobody has dared gone up there. Not even you. Why won't you go up there, Tadashi?"

"I...I'll go up there. I'll go up there r-right now!"

Fred scoffed, following the college student as he slowly walked up to the second floor and to the stairs to the attic. He stopped at the first step, rubbing the back of his neck and letting out a sigh of hesitation.

"Well? Are you going to go, or...?"

"I'm...going," Tadashi mumbled, memories of the dead lightning bugs filling up his mind and causing him to hug himself tight as he trudged up the steep and narrow steps. "I think you may have been wrong about the air conditioning, Fred, it's _freezing_ up here. Poor Hiro's probably shivering out of his mind."

Fred groaned in frustration, leaning against the wall as he waited for Tadashi to check on his little brother. Tadashi swallowed hard with each creaky step he took, finally reaching the attic floor and taking in the state of the room.

He doubled back in horror, realizing his little brother was lying on the ground, lifeless and pale. He threw himself to the ground, scooping Hiro into his arms and checking desperately for a pulse only to feel nothing but Hiro's cold, bony wrist.

"Hiro! Hiro, wake up! Please wake up! Hiro!"

Hiro's head simply rolled back, and his eyes were yellow and red. Tadashi covered his mouth and let out a sob. He looked around for a cause of death, taking note of the icicles hanging from the ceiling and from his bed. The closet door was the most frosted thing in the room, and it chilled him the more he looked at it. Hiro must have frozen to death, because swirls of frost covered his face and his hands.

"FRED!" Tadashi yelled, looking down the steps. No response. He cursed under his breath, holding Hiro close and sobbing into his shoulder. "W-what happened? What happened?!"

Suddenly, fireflies began swarming in from the window in the room, flying in a circle around the brothers on the ground. Tadashi squinted through the blinding light, holding Hiro's lifeless body close to his trembling one. He looked Hiro's hand, choking down a scream as it slowly began glowing golden, the fireflies closing in on them and taking Hiro away-

"-ashi! TADASHI!"

Tadashi sat bolt upright, taking in a deep breath and looking around the room. He was back in his bed, and Honey Lemon was gripping his shoulders desperately.

"You scared me!" Honey Lemon cried, pulling Tadashi into a hug. He slowly returned it, squinting his eyes in confusion. "You wouldn't wake up, and you were saying something I couldn't make out clearly."

"What time is it?" he groaned, rubbing his neck.

"It's 10:00 AM. After you sent everyone upstairs and back to bed yesterday morning, you slept all day and all night. Now, we're going into town later to do something together, so get dressed!"

Tadashi's mouth hung open, taking in all of the information he had been given in utter shock. One question still hung over his head, and he was desperate to have it answered.

"Where's Hiro? Is he okay?"

"Of course, he is? Why wouldn't he be?"

Tadashi threw the covers off of himself, running out of the room and to the attic in a matter of seconds. The horrible feeling he'd had in his dream was still there as he went up the steps, but he shook it off, reaching the third floor and making Hiro jump in alarm when he arrived.

His little brother had been sitting on his made bed, scrolling through his laptop. He wore a yellow sweatshirt and black jeans, almost just like he had the day before. Tadashi visibly deflated in relief, leaning against the wall and rubbing his face.

"Are you alright, 'Dashi?" his brother asked, closing his laptop in concern and sitting on the edge of his bed with anticipation.

"I'm alright-don't you think it's a bit cold in here? It's really cold. Why are you so pale? Are you sick? We're leaving soon to go to Times Square, so grab your shoes...Are you sure you're not sick?"

Before Hiro could even utter out a single word, Tadashi was running back down the stairs, frantically shaking his head and whispering under his breath.

* * *

For the next week, that's how life was. Nobody went into the attic except for Hiro. Tadashi was always on edge. Honey Lemon was always ready to do something with one of them. Gogo was always tired and quiet, but ready to explore nonetheless. Fred was always urging Tadashi to listen to him about the supernatural, something Tadashi found strange seeing as that had only happened for the first time in his dream. Wasabi was always drinking tea and relaxing in his room with a book.

Hiro was always pale, sweaty, and "hallucinating."

Nobody mentioned anything strange when they face timed Cass every few days or when the house owner asked how they were enjoying the place. Hiro took note of how the house owner mentioned that she hardly ever stayed at the house except on vacations.

Life was beginning to reach a certain normalcy. They had gone to see a Broadway show and out to dinner. They had gone shopping and gone to Times Square several times to take pictures for Cass.

But when they were all home, there was no missing the uncomfortable atmosphere and the biting cold of the old town house. The way they were all unable to take in a complete mouthful of air. The way they all felt held back by some greater force. And the way Fred bounced up and down the walls anytime someone mentioned a ghost.

"You don't really believe in the paranormal, do you, Hiro?" Honey Lemon asked one time as they all sat around the table eating takeout. Hiro laughed awkwardly, taking a drink of his water and noticing Tadashi's interested gaze in everything he did from across the table.

 _Yes. I do._

* * *

 **i finished orange is the new black and i will truly never be the same**


	3. Dragged away

**sorry I've been gone, my brother graduated the marines in san diego but anyways the chapter will have stuff happen in it**

* * *

"I'm going for a walk!" Hiro called, earning a call from Tadashi to be careful. He stepped onto the busy sidewalks of New York City, taking in a deep breath of unsanitary air. At least he could breathe out here, unlike the tense and dark house they were staying in. Every breath was strained.

He could see a light dimming inside every person staying in that house. He'd decided to call it "The Firefly House," because, well, the bugs were haunting him.

It didn't take a genius like Hiro to know that _holy shit this house is paranormal._ Every night before bed, the fireflies flew in, shutting the attic door and doing just what they did the first night; something Hiro still doesn't understand. They flew in a circle around him, and his skin would glow golden. It was enchanting and horrific at the same time, and he wasn't sure what to think of it. It spread down to his arm, onto every inch of his body. His hair shimmered yellow, a look that didn't look quite right on him.

Oh, how desperately he wanted to tell Tadashi.

But he knew he could never do such a thing. Tadashi was already acting so strange, and he didn't want to worry Cass anymore either. Apparently, she had passed and made it through to the second week of the competition.

Hiro, however, was wondering if he himself would make it through the third week of this vacation.

His thoughts must have distracted him because he had wandered somewhere he didn't know and was now wrapping his coat tighter around his frame as he looked around in confusion.

"You lost, kid?" a woman asked, making Hiro's head snap up. A girl, around Hiro's age, was smirking at him. She had semi-dark skin and large, curly, and highlighted hair. She wore a scarf to protect from the cold.

"Oh, uh, I just got a little lost in thought," he laughed nervously. "Any chance you know where Cypress Street is?"

"Yeah, definitely. Good thing you didn't get too lost in thought because that's already a fifteen-minute walk."

"Ah, shit. Tadashi's going to kill me. I promised ten minutes."

"Is this Tadashi guy your dad or something?" the girl asked, walking alongside Hiro to the house.

"Nope, older brother," Hiro sighed. She nodded in understanding.

"I completely relate. My older brother can be a real pain in the ass sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah," he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "No, but I love Tadashi. We've been through just about everything together. That's why he's so pushy."

"Sweet! When did you move here with him?"

"Oh, we're on vacation while our aunt does work in California. We're from San Fransokyo."

"Dude, that place is tight," she laughed. "I'm Petra, by the way," she shook Hiro's hand.

"Hiro," he smiled warmly.

"So, you staying with family or something? Because the only rental house on Cypress is, well, I guess you wouldn't know. You're not a local."

"What do you mean?"

"The only rental, 1647 Cypress. It's totally rigged. That's what Native New Yorkers think, at least. There's always something sketchy happening at that place."

"W-We're staying there," he swallowed hard, fidgeting with his hands in his pockets. "My brother and my friends. That's where we rented out for the month."

"No way!" Petra gasped, seriousness taking over as she backed away from Hiro quickly. "Why the hell didn't you say something? Did nobody tell you about the stuff that goes on there?! Stay away from me! I don't want to get ghosts!"

She ran down the street quickly, turning the corner and leaving Hiro dumbfounded on the curb. He threw his hands in the air in annoyance, jogging back to the house to research the address on his laptop.

* * *

"Hey, Hiro," Tadashi greeted as Hiro flew through the door, slamming it behind him and leaning against it to regain himself. Tadashi raised an eyebrow, standing from the table and looking out the window.

"H-hey, Tadashi."

"Did someone follow you here or something? What happened?"

"Dude, there is something wrong with this _house,_ " Hiro whispered, and Tadashi's head ached with the statement.

"Why does everyone keep saying that? This place is fantastic, and we got it for a good deal, too."

"Why do you think that is, Tadashi?" Hiro hissed. "This house is haunted, okay? It's haunted! If I have to be the first one to admit it, so be it, but we need a priest or a ritual of some kind if we're going to be here for a week and a half more."

"You seriously believe in hell and in ghosts?" Tadashi scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Of course I do! Not only ghosts but demons, conduits to the spirit world, _spirits-_ "

"Hiro, please!" Tadashi said with a light laugh. "You're just sleep deprived. I know you, okay? I know that you don't sleep because of your ins-"

"Because of the fireflies!" Hiro cried, immediately covering his mouth in regret. Tadashi tilted his head, knowing full well that he had seen hundreds of dead fireflies on the floor of the attic their second day there.

"What about fireflies?" he asked quietly. Hiro bit his lip and shuffled his feet, his heart beating violently in his chest. "Hiro, the others went out to get us lunch and they won't be back for a bit. Until they return, I want you to go upstairs and rest. I'm not letting you torture yourself with your mental illnesses, yeah?"

"I'm not crazy," Hiro scoffed, running up the stairs to his room. Tadashi tried calling after him, but to no avail. He groaned in frustration, pouring himself another cup of coffee and going into his room to read.

What Hiro didn't know was that he would be putting said book down five minutes later to meet his worst nightmare.

* * *

Hiro kicked the bedframe in frustration as he yanked his laptop out and typed in the address. Several articles pulled up, one about a car crashing into the backyard and another about a horrible smell coming from the attic in the 70s. The owner of the building currently is a Mr. Jeremy Tangle, a fifty-year-old man with no family. He put the house on the market, and a total of fifteen families have stayed in it since then, each one claiming that there was something seriously wrong with the structure. Mr. Tangle had gone to court several times about his rental house, but none of the evidence from the families was enough to convince the judge and each case went unsolved. More articles claimed that not even an exterminator could rid of the bug problems and that several people have committed suicide after staying on Cypress.

He groaned, not surprised in the slightest by the information he was taking in at the moment. Of course, it wasn't a shock that the building was claimed haunted by hundreds of tourists, it had been a nightmare staying in the attic for Hiro and it had only been a week and a half.

His anger only grew when he remembered the sympathetic look on Tadashi's face. The look you give a patient if you were a therapist.

The _please shut the hell up, you psychopath_ look.

"I'm not crazy," Hiro repeated in a whisper, looking to the side as a firefly twitched on the ground helplessly. He rolled his eyes, laying down and taking a deep breath to clear his mind.

* * *

As the ticking of the living room clock filled his thoughts after only five minutes, Tadashi slammed his book shut and tried turning on the TV as a source of entertainment. For some reason, there was no signal and no wifi, so Tadashi simply laid down on the couch and closed his eyes. If his friends were going to be there in a few minutes with lunch, he may as well try and rest until they got there.

However, as he closed his eyes and became more and more drowsy, a sudden pulling feeling overcame him from his waist, and he looked down in horror to see that he was being sucked into the couch. He desperately tried to hold onto something, anything to get up, but he was stuck there, helpless and terrified.

"Hiro!" he yelled, his horror growing as thousands of fireflies flew in from the windows, swarming throughout the room. It suddenly became pitch black in the house and the bugs forced the windows shut and turned their lights on, creating a golden glow in the old house. Tadashi yelled in fear, realizing he was almost completely sucked into whatever awaited him below the old couch.

"Hiro! Hiro! HELP!"

Hiro suddenly burst in through the living room door, his eyes wide at the sight before him. Panic became evident on his face when he took in Tadashi's state, and he frantically rushed to pull Tadashi out.

"Tadashi! What's going on?!" he cried, grabbing Tadashi's arm and pulling as hard as he could to set his brother free.

"I don't know!" Tadashi replied, yelling as his neck was suddenly the only the above the couch. "Hurry! I'm going to get sucked in!"

"Shit!" Hiro roared, putting his foot on the couch and pulling with all his might until Tadashi finally flew out of the couch and into the far wall, the fireflies zooming out of the house and back into the city. The light returned and the ticking clock was the only thing filling the now calm house besides Tadashi's panicked breathing.

"Oh my god, oh my god," Tadashi whispered, clutching his chest and leaning against the wall in an attempt to calm himself.

"Shh, it's alright," Hiro assured him as he rushed to his brother's side and pulled him into a hug. "It's okay, they're gone now, and you're out of the couch. I'm here."

Tadashi yanked Hiro closer and held onto him with an iron grip, his breaths quick and his face pale. Hiro looked over at the living room doorway to see a shocked Honey Lemon, Wasabi, Fred, and Gogo, all of them holding to-go boxes with wide eyes and open mouths. Tadashi sat up straighter at the sight of them, looking longingly at them and expecting all hell to break lose.

"S-so," Gogo said quietly, "you guys have seen the fireflies too, huh?"

* * *

"I don't know how to explain it," Hiro said over lunch, gathering everyone's interest. "All I know is that for some reason there was something that happened here including fireflies and for some _crazy_ reason we're all getting tortured in our own ways, right?"

"I see them piled dead in corners," Wasabi said in disgust.

"I see them crawling towards me in my nightmares," Fred shivered.

"I just get spooked when I'm near the attic," Gogo shrugged.

"They almost pulled me into oblivion," Tadashi said quietly.

"I actually haven't been bothered besides a few bad dreams," Honey Lemon said politely. Tadashi nodded thankfully at that.

"I, uh..." Hiro began but wasn't sure if anyone should know about this yet. He didn't see why not, realizing that everything was now out in the open. "I'll show you guys in person. Tonight."

At that, everyone raised eyebrows but nodded nonetheless.

"Until then, we need to do some research and perform a ritual of some kind to get rid of the spirits," Wasabi said, earning murmurs of agreement from all but Gogo.

"Rituals?" Gogo scoffed. "I'm not religious, but I'm not sure that's the best idea, you know?"

"It's all we have right now," Hiro said, eyeing his brother. "Tadashi could have died today, okay? We can't let that happen to anyone else on this trip, so we need a plan. We need to set up cameras and always keep the lights on. It's supposed to be cold and rainy today, so we can't open any windows. Does everyone understand?"

Everyone nodded, and Tadashi smiled warmly at his brother's concern for him. The feelings were mutual, of course, but he was still confused on what he had to show them at night.

"Alright. Good. We'll do the ritual tonight then."

* * *

It was 7:30, and Hiro had gone out shopping and returned with everything they would need to perform the perfect ritual. From what he had researched, he needed a large mirror and something to draw with. He drew a triangle on the wooden ground of the second floor, a circle in the middle. Then, he placed the large mirror just on top of the circle, spray painted it black and lit candles around it. He pulled out an old spell book and a bible and set them in the center.

"Guys! Get up here!"

Everyone rushed up to the second floor, impressed at the "art" Hiro had made for the sake of ridding the spirits.

"The cameras are all set up and I shut all of the windows on the way here," Fred said proudly, sitting down next to the mirror.

"Wait, before we start this ritual, I promised you guys I would show you what the fireflies, you know, do to me."

He hesitantly led them up the steps to the attic, much to Gogo's disapproval. Once they were all there, he asked them all to step back and be as quiet as possible. He looked to Tadashi, who was smiling at him reassuringly. Hiro nodded, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He heard a faint buzzing sound from outside and he knew now that the fireflies were coming. The others must've heard them too because they all took cautious steps away from the window in fear. All but Tadashi, who stayed planted to his spot and never took his eyes off of his brother.

"H-Hiro?" Honey Lemon asked, voice trembling. "What's going on?"

Hiro didn't answer, not even flinching when the bugs crashed through the window and began flying around the room. Tadashi still didn't move, not even to wipe the tear falling from his cheek at the sight of the lightning bugs. Hiro's faced grimaced as they lit their tails and he looked down in sadness as his skin began to glow golden. His friends all gasped, pointing at his fingers as they slowly spread down his palm and through his arm. He grimaced in pain from the heat.

"Hiro, no!" Tadashi cried, nearly running toward him if not for Wasabi's strong arms. Hiro gripped his arm, whipping around to see Tadashi as tears fell from his face.

"Don't come near me!" Hiro whimpered. "Stay away from me! Just stay as far away as possible! This was a mistake, I shouldn't have shown you!"

He backed away from them as his left fingertips now began glowing gold, spreading all the way down to his shoulder. He turned away from his friends so they wouldn't have to see his face when the gold touched it, and he yelped in pain like he always did when the gold reached his hair. The heat was unimaginable, and it always left blisters. Tadashi was screaming faintly in the distance, but Hiro had learned to blur it all out on demand.

Finally, the gold reached the last of his hair, and he was suddenly on the floor unconscious like he always was. The fireflies were gone, and the cold biting air of New York breeze from the open window overcame them all.

"Hiro!"

Tadashi ran to his little brother's side, cradling him in his arms and pleading for him to wake up. Using his experience from working on Baymax, he checked for a pulse and choked back a sob when he didn't feel one, performing CPR as Honey Lemon tried soothing Hiro awake.

Hiro jumped up with a gasp, falling back into Tadashi's arms and looking around in confusion.

"Hiro, are you okay?" Tadashi asked frantically, checking his pulse once more to make sure it was stable. He sighed in relief to know it was.

"Did I...show you?" Hiro asked, sitting up straight and eyeing his terrified friends.

"Yeah," Honey Lemon said, wiping away her tears. "You showed us."

He let out a breath, rising to his feet and nervously watching everyone for reactions.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us this was happening every night, you asshole!" Gogo roared, storming across the room and slapping Hiro across the face. He gasped in shock, looking up at her with wide eyes as he touched his cheek lightly and felt a small trickle of blood.

" _Ow_ ," he scolded her. She simply rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"We could've avoided all of this earlier if you had just told us a week and a half ago, but you had to put us all through hell and be secretive!"

 _"Gogo,_ " Honey Lemon spoke up, grabbing her arm with a warning glare. "Would you really going around telling everyone that you changed colors every night before bed because your house was haunted?"

"N-no, she's right," Hiro said as Tadashi looked at his cut. "That's why we have to do this ritual. I've researched it, and it's not the safest way, but it requires all of us to be there. Fred was actually the one who showed me the ritual, so let's go down and get it over with."

"What, you don't trust me, fire boy?" Fred snickered, jogging along down the stairs with the others. Hiro instructed them all to sit in certain areas and he picked up the spell book, asking Fred which page to begin with.

"Okay, everyone," Hiro said quietly, re-lighting the candles and taking a deep breath. "I want everyone to know that this kind of stuff isn't funny. It can go wrong really quick, and if there's even the slightest of problems, we could end up worsening the situation rather than fixing it. Got it?"

Everyone nodded nervously, and Hiro licked suddenly dry lips as he looked back down to the spell book.

"A-alright, this is a banishing spell, courtesy of Fred, which I will read out loud while we're all either holding hands or if you're sitting next to me just put your hands on my shoulder so I can hold the book. We're starting now, and it's in Spanish, so everyone be quiet."

They all sat up straight, and Wasabi and Gogo put their hands on Hiro's shoulder, closing their eyes as the teenager kept an iron grip on the old spell book. He cleared his throat and, with much hesitation, began reading.

"A la luz de la luna se desvanece, limpia mi alma de esta mancha, deje que el hechizo sea inverso, levanta esta oscura maldicion, al entrar en el espacio sagrado, devuelve mi alma a la gracia, perdono lo que se hizo, deja que el hechizo se deshaga."

Hiro closed the book slowly, not very convinced that this method had worked like they had needed it to. He slightly glanced up at Fred, who was extremely immersed in his chant. Hiro let out a quiet sigh as he waited for something, anything to happen. Until...

"Ow..." Honey Lemon whimpered, looking down in pain. Tadashi, abandoning the rules Hiro had told them to stick to no matter what, leaned over next to Honey Lemon, concern overtaking him as he asked what was wrong.

"I feel sick," Honey Lemon mumbled, wrapping her arms around herself and closing her eyes tight.

"What's happening?" Hiro whispered, clearly frustrated that they were doing exactly what he told them not to do.

Suddenly, Honey Lemon lurched forward and vomited all over the mirror and candles Hiro had set up, making everyone back away in disgust. Tadashi bolted up from his spot and ran to grab towels from the kitchen.

"Oof!" Honey groaned as she was flipped onto her stomach, earning looks of confusion from everyone.

"Who just did that?" Fred asked in fear. Before anyone could respond, Honey Lemon was being violently dragged away from the ritual and up the stairs to the attic, making everyone scream and run after her.

"AH! Help! HELP!" Honey Lemon cried trying to grab the stairs to stop but finding it useless. "Something's got my leg! Something cold!"

"Hang on!" Hiro roared, sprinting after her as quickly as he could. She screamed in horror as she looked behind her and realized she was almost to the attic. Hiro grabbed her fist, however, and pulled with all of his might to set her free. He heard Tadashi running back up from the kitchen with towels only to shout in horror at what was happening; Hiro trying to save Honey Lemon's life as she fell violently ill on the attic staircase and as she was being pulled up the steps by an unknown force. It was all too much for him, at this point.

"HONEY! HIRO!"

Tadashi tried running up the steps but for the second time that day he was stopped by Wasabi.

"I have to help them!" Tadashi insisted, fighting his grip as much as he could.

"There's nothing we can do!" Wasabi cried, holding onto him tighter. "They'll be okay!"

" _Woah!_ " Honey yelled as the grip on her ankle tightened and yanked her up to the attic, taking Hiro with her due to his iron grip on her wrist. The door slowly began closing, and the last thing Tadashi saw before it finally snapped shut was a flash of light and the last thing he heard were their horrified screams.

"NO!" Tadashi shouted, sprinting up the attic steps and throwing the door open only to be greeted with empty space and the calm sound of the city outside. Tadashi's heart stopped as a single firefly buzzed past the window, its light flickering and dimming.

"N-no," he sobbed, falling to his knees and banging the ground angrily. Not a trace of them; they had vanished out of thin air. "Damnit! Damnit! DAMNIT!"

"Hey!" Gogo snapped, grabbing Tadashi by the chin and letting their teary eyes meet. "L-listen to me, Tadashi. J-just listen. We're g-gonna get them back, but we n-need you to be calm for us, okay? You have to remain calm if you ever wanna see your brother and best friend again. Please."

Tadashi swallowed hard but nodded, slowly standing up and looking around the room one last time, desperate to see Hiro's gap-toothed grin and to hear Honey's laugh just one more time.

"What are we going to do?"

* * *

 **anywho** **please** **forgive this crappy chapter you can't expect someone to write perfectly after being on a flight within the last 24 hours and only getting five hours of sleep it's ROUGH but i hope you guys enjoy and make it your priority to review ;)**


	4. The New Dimension

**sorry i've been gone this story didn't get a lot of attention so i didn't know if you wanted another chapter but here it is.**

* * *

Tadashi could feel his heart beating loudly in his chest, his head ached horribly, and his eyes were blurry with tears. Everything was blurry. All sound, all motion, all touch, completely blurred out.

 _Honey Lemon. Hiro. Where did...what..._

He couldn't even think. He could barely breathe. His brother and his best friend, yanked from his sight, his world. And he had no idea how to get them back.

"Tadashi, man, you need to breathe," Wasabi said calmly, rubbing his hand up and down Tadashi arm.

"Yeah, dude, we'll get them back," Fred agreed.

"It's all my fault," Tadashi whispered, clenching a chunk of his hair with his fists. "I shouldn't have gone downstairs, I shouldn't have-"

"Okay, Tadashi, before you continue, this is _my_ fault, okay?" Fred argued. "I'm the one that told Hiro about the ritual, I'm the one that taught him how to do it. If I had maybe done it myself then maybe they'd still be here with us."

"Alright- _Jesus, Fred-_ They aren't dead, you guys," Gogo chimed in, pacing across the room. "All we have to do is try the ritual in that room instead. We can, I don't know, lure them back? I'm not religious, so I don't know how any of this works..."

"Hiro, oh my god, what if they're being tortured or burned or something terrible?" Tadashi asked frantically, rubbing his hands together as more tears uncontrollably streamed down his cheeks. "Hiro, Honey Lemon, oh no..."

"Everyone just calm down!" Gogo snapped. "We're going to get them back. While you people were having your little episode, I called a priest and he'll be here any minute. We'll get them back."

"A priest is coming _here_?" Tadashi asked, looking around at the broken glass and the mess from the ritual. "We have to-it's a mess in here."

"He told me to leave everything as it is," Gogo sighed. "Let's all prepare ourselves for what he's going to say, and don't get your hopes up."

Tadashi nodded absentmindedly, putting his hands on his knees and taking a deep breath.

* * *

Hiro groaned in pain, slowly opening his eyes and sitting up. His eyes widened as he observed his surroundings.

Everything around him was completely black. Black stretched on for miles left and right, forwards and backward. A splash of color caught his eye to his left, and his head snapped toward it. Honey Lemon was sprawled on the ground, breathing to Hiro's relief. She was clearly unconscious until she stirred in her sleep and sat bolt upright, quickly looking up at Hiro in fear.

"Are we dead?" Honey Lemon asked dreadfully.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Hiro sighed, rubbing his neck. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Well, I was being dragged up the stairs by some _woman,_ she had green, veiny skin and black curly hair. And then you were pulling me back, and we were both thrown into the attic. And...the woman cast a light on us and...I remember very vividly being in a lot of pain. And now we're here."

"That's what I remember-wait, you saw who was dragging you?"

"Yeah, you didn't see her?"

"I-no, I suppose not," Hiro shrugged, shaking his head and looking around again. "So if we're surrounded by complete blackness, how come we can see each other? Where's the light coming from?"

"I-AH!"

Honey Lemon pointed a finger to the sky in horror, making Hiro snap his head up. Above them were millions of fireflies flying in different directions. At Honey's loud scream, the attention of at least 500 fireflies directed towards the ground as they suddenly began flying towards the two at full speed. Hiro and Honey immediately stood up and began sprinting the opposite direction.

"What do we do?! What's happening?!" Honey Lemon cried, stumbling slightly only for Hiro to catch her fall.

"I don't-!" Hiro suddenly caught the attention of his hand, gasping in dread as his fingertips started glowing gold and traveling down his arm. "Damn it, not now!"

"Hiro, what's wrong?" Honey asked, grabbing hold of his hand and examining it as they ran.

"No time, just keep moving!" Hiro demanded.

"What's the point?! We're not going anywhere! There's nowhere to RUN!"

Hiro stopped moving at her words, staring blankly ahead. She was right, after all. Where were they running to? Where would they go? And what would happen if the fireflies caught them, anyway?

"Hiro! What are you doing?!" Honey cried, grabbing his hand once again. "I was wrong, let's keep going!"

Before Hiro could even take another breath, the fireflies came up behind him and, collectively, they carried Hiro into the air, away from Honey Lemon and towards the stream of fireflies above.

"Wait-NO!" Hiro cried, looking down at the ground as a horrified Honey Lemon screamed his name.

"No! Please, don't leave me!" Honey Lemon was crying until suddenly her feet started sinking into the ground, followed by her knees. It was like the floor had become quick sand. "Hiro! Help!"

"Honey Lemon, there's nothing I can do!" Hiro was completely helpless, suspended in the air as the fireflies flew him farther and farther away. Honey Lemon was now neck deep in the floor, crying and screaming.

"No! No! No-!"

And just like that, Honey Lemon was gone, leaving a wide-eyed, terrified Hiro to stare at the spot she had been in not even a second ago.

Now, he was on his own.

* * *

A knock on the door was all it took to send Tadashi flying downstairs. He wrenched the door open, startling the priest behind it. The man must've been in his thirties, bright red hair and green eyes with his pale freckled skin.

"Hello, a Leiko Tomago called me. How can I help?"

"Yes, Father Perry," Gogo said from behind, taking his hand and leading him inside. The second the priest stepped inside he was immediately overcome with a feeling of uneasiness.

"I don't blame you for calling, now," the man said, taking a deep breath. "There are wicked spirits here. And this isn't the first time I've set foot in this house. The previous residents of this home have certainly complained and took to calling the church. Take me to where you said your friends disappeared."

"Yes, sir," Tadashi said, leading the way up to the second floor and to the stairs leading up to the attic. Father Perry took another deep breath, setting down the brief case Tadashi just realized he had been holding. He opened it, taking out a glass bottle with a cross on it. It almost looked like a potion of some sort, but it seemed to just have water. Father Perry opened it and sprinkled it on their ritual spot, praying under his breath. The water sizzled when it hit the ground, making the others cover their mouths in terror.

"Is that, uh, normal?!" Wasabi asked, his voice cracking.

"No, it is most certainly not," Father Perry sighed, putting the holy water back in its place and pulling out a small red book. He began reading aloud a blessing in Latin, and Tadashi and his friends could do nothing but stand in awkward silence.

Well, at least until the strangest thing the gang had ever seen, happened.

The lights went out, flickering with a pop. It made everyone jump, but what really scared them was the strange black blob forming on the ceiling. Father Perry looked up, tilting his head and raising an eyebrow.

"What's this?" he whispered. The blob grew and grew, until a pop of color, a yellow shoe, came out of the whole. It was a high heel, followed by another, and inside of each was a foot.

A human was coming out of the ceiling.

"Isn't that..."

"Those are Honey Lemon's shoes! It's Honey Lemon!" Fred cried. Honey Lemon's screaming from above suddenly became known, and she began kicking as the rest of her fell through the ceiling. She fell to the floor with a thud, and the hole in the ceiling disappeared. She was sobbing, and she sat up and looked around her, sighing in relief to see that she was back.

"Honey Lemon!" Tadashi cried, dropping to his knees and pulling her into a tight hug, which she gratefully accepted. She was sobbing frantically into his shoulder and clutching a fistful of his shirt.

Father Perry dropped his book, his eyes wide. He grabbed his briefcase, snapped it shut, bolted down the stairs and left the house, slamming the door behind him. No body in the room seemed to care, seeing as they were all on the ground comforting their friend.

After ten minutes, Gogo wrapped Honey Lemon in a soft blanket. She had changed into her pajamas, and Wasabi had made her soup. She sat in front of the fire as the rain pounded loudly against the windows, calming her just slightly. Her friends all sat around her, staring at her as tears slowly fell down her face.

"Can you tell us what happened now?" Tadashi asked, his voice cracking. Honey Lemon nodded slowly, clearing her throat and starting from being dragged upstairs.

"It was a woman. She had green skin. I could see her veins. She had long, black hair. Her eyes were white. After she had me, she had Hiro, and we were in the attic. She roared, cast a light on us. We were both in so much pain, everything was blurry. We woke up in a black abyss, there was nothing around us for miles. I woke up to Hiro, he was staring at me. We both didn't know what to do, but when we looked above us, there were millions of fireflies. I screamed, and I caught their attention. It's all my fault. I'm the reason Hiro's gone. If I hadn't screamed, they wouldn't have noticed us, and they wouldn't have got him."

"W-what are you talking about?" Tadashi asked, wringing his hands together frantically. "He's...why isn't he here? What happened in there?"

Honey Lemon shook her head, tears streaming down her face faster and faster.

"He's _dead?"_ Tadashi asked in horror, covering his mouth.

"He...the fireflies got him, and they took him away. I don't know if he's alive or not. I don't know anything. I thought we were dead, in the afterlife. He's trapped, guys. In some kind of dimension. That's where the fireflies are coming from. If we find a way in, we can find Hiro. But I honestly don't know if they've killed him yet. If they plan on killing him at all. I don't know. I'm sorry, Tadashi."

Tadashi said nothing, his nose and eyes red from all of the crying he had done. Fred stood and leaned against the wall, rubbing his face.

"That's crazy, guys," Fred said in an impressed voice. "There's another dimension, and Hiro's in it! How cool is that!"

Tadashi felt angry at that, but then he felt relieved and grateful at Fred's never ending attempts to lighten the mood. He looked over at Fred, only for his breath to catch in his throat, and he was screaming. Around Fred were four arms coming out of the wall, green and veiny. They grabbed Fred and yanked him into the wall, and he was gone from sight. Honey Lemon shrieked in fear, and Tadashi could have sworn he could faintly hear Hiro's voice. He didn't know where, but he heard it.

The four friends stared at the wall in horror until Gogo stood, anger written on her face.

"If this demon wants to mess with us, we have to start putting up a fight."

* * *

Fred fell onto something slightly soft. He sat up quickly, breathing loudly and trying to calm his beating heart. He looked around frantically. Everything was black, except there were poles holding up the ceiling. It must've been some kind of basement. Fred whipped his head around at the sound of metal clanking together.

It was Hiro, and his hands were tied around one of the poles.

"Hiro!" Fred cried, crawling to Hiro as quickly as he could.

"Shh, Fred," Hiro warned. "Or they'll find you too."

"What happened?" Fred noticed a bruise on Hiro's eye and cuts on his face and wrists. "What's going on, is this a whore house?"

"No," Hiro laughed slightly, tiredly closing his eyes. "I think we might be in hell, though. Honey Lemon disappeared. I really hope she's okay."

"She's fine, dude, she's back at the house."

Hiro's eyes widened at that, and he sighed in comfort.

"Tadashi must be so relieved," Hiro said, leaning his head back on the pole.

"Oh, he is so not," Fred scoffed. Hiro raised an eyebrow.

"Why not? Honey's back, right?"

"Hiro. You've got to be kidding me. Yes, Tadashi's glad Honey's back, but he's not smiling. No one was. Everyone thinks you're dead. The last thing Honey saw was you getting taken or something. Tadashi is devastated. He thinks you're _dead._ "

"Oh, geez," Hiro groaned. "I gotta get _out_ of here, Fred. We need to escape before they find you."

"Who? Who's gonna find us?"

"The fireflies. The women. There are these two women here, and they have green, pale skin. They locked me up here. The fireflies took me away. I don't know how to get back to...earth. Are we still on earth?"

"No clue. I got sucked through a wall."

Hiro scoffed, closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh.

"I need Tadashi," he confessed. "I can't think straight. He's always been here through all of these hard times. Now I'm alone and we might not even be in the same timeline, I don't know. I don't know anything. We'll probably never see each other again."

"That's not true. A priest came by and blessed the house, and...I'm not religious, but maybe he opened a portal somewhere and we can get back home. Right?"

"Wow, I don't know, man. Maybe you're right. You have to help me out, though, okay?"

"Right," Fred nodded, grabbing Hiro's wrists and examining the tie.

"It's just metal wire. I think there are some wire cutters in that toolbox over there."

Fred crawled under one of the tables in the basement, taking out a pair of wire cutters. Everything in this box was sticky and smelled terrible. Fred squinted in disgust, crawling back to Hiro and cutting the wire.

"Thanks," Hiro sighed, standing up and turning toward the basement door. "Let's get out of here."

The minute they opened the door, however, they were blown to the opposite side of the room, the two women standing angrily in the doorway.

"Oh, god," Hiro whispered dreadfully.

"We told you to stay put," one of the women growled. "Get rid of the other boy."

The other women grabbed Fred and threw him into the wall, back through the portal he came through. Fred struggled to come back in, however.

"No! Don't hurt Hiro! I can't go back without him!"

"Fred-"

Before Hiro could respond, one of the women grabbed a knife and plunged it into Hiro's stomach, making him yell in pain and fall to the ground unconscious. Fred screamed in sorrow, falling into the portal and back into the real world.

* * *

Tadashi sat in a chair in front of the fire, staring at it as tears continued slowly falling down his face. All he could think about was the fact that he would never see Hiro again. He was probably dead, which made him cry even harder.

 _No, you can't lose faith in your own brother. He's alive and you'll see him again._

"Oh, my god!" Gogo yelled, pointing at the wall Fred had disappeared into. He came falling through it, landing on the ground and breathing heavily. Tadashi stood up and ran to his side.

"What happened? Where were you? What did you see?"

"He's gone," Fred cried loudly, falling on his back and covering his face. "He's gone, he's gone."

"Who?" Tadashi asked, though he had an idea who he was talking about. "Who's gone, Fred?"

"He was murdered," Fred threw himself at Tadashi.

"Hiro was murdered."

* * *

 **heck i hope this chapter gets feedback pretty please ;)**


	5. The Revelation

**back at it while i can**

* * *

Once again, Tadashi was paralyzed in shock. He was trembling, his mind was racing, his heart was beating so fast that his head felt as if it would explode.

Fred had told them everything. Hiro being held captive. How they were practically in hell. The sticky tools and the floor of the basement.

He even saw Hiro breathe his last breath. He saw Hiro get murdered by demons.

It almost sounded unreal. Almost. Maybe Fred had been wrong. After all, if he had traveled to the afterlife, how could anything be entirely accurate? Maybe Hiro hadn't been murdered, or maybe he had survived the stabbing.

Tadashi pitied himself for clinging so close to hope.

How would Tadashi explain this to Cass? She would be devasted, and she was, in fact, the only religious person in the family, so she might believe the whole demon story. Tadashi always felt Hiro was religious, but he hid it somehow. Like he didn't want them to know he believed in God.

Tears streamed down his cheeks as memories of Hiro flooded into his head all at once. He didn't know how much more of this he could handle.

"I have to go in there."

Gogo's head snapped up at Tadashi's voice, followed by the others. They all stared at Tadashi cautiously.

"What?"

"The next time a portal opens up or _something,_ I have to go in there. I'm a doctor, I can save Hiro's life. But I have to go now. I have to _go._ "

"Tadashi, please," Honey Lemon sobbed, looking up from her tissue. Her eyes were swollen, her nose was bright red, her voice was cracking. She was devasted. "Please. You have to stop. There's nothing we can do. You've said this a hundred times...he's _gone_ , damn it. He's dead."

Tadashi dropped to his knees, struggling to stand.

"N-no, I can't just leave him there. I h-have to go find him," Tadashi crawled to the wall and put his hand on it, only for it to sink right through. Tadashi gasped, his eyes wide and relief just slightly filling his mind. "Look! It's still open! I'm going in, I have to go in."

No one had time to stop him, or ever respond. He was gone into the wall, into the other dimension. Darkness overtook him when he walked in. He was in the basement Fred had described. His shoes stuck to the ground when he tried to walk. He yanked his feet up with each step. He stepped in something wet, and he gasped in horror to see it was blood.

"Oh no, Hiro..."

Tadashi took a deep breath and kept walking, opening the basement door cautiously. The stairs leading up looked dark and unappealing, but he knew Hiro was up there, so he slowly walked up and observed his surroundings. He appeared to be in a very old, crumbling house, the walls stained brown and the floor barely holding up. He wondered how the basement hadn't caved in with such a weak ceiling.

"Hiro?" he whispered. His voice echoed, but nothing came back. Hiro didn't hear him. Tadashi decided maybe he would find something more outside of the house, so he opened the door and nearly dropped to his knees at the sight before him.

Black. An abyss. A never-ending, black nothing. He looked up to see millions and millions of fireflies flying in a stream in one direction, and he could do nothing but gape at the sight of them. Honey hadn't been lying about them after all.

"Hiro?" Tadashi called again, this time as a shout. His voice echoed for miles. He sighed, going around the house and to the back. He covered his mouth to see Hiro lying on his back, his arm draped across himself. He was breathing quickly, and he was staring tiredly at the fireflies above.

"Hiro!" Tadashi cried, making Hiro bolt upright in pain, eyes wide.

"Tadashi, don't-!"

But before Hiro could warn him, Tadashi came within two feet of him and was knocked off his feet and blasted away from a powerful blast, sending him on his back several feet away.

"...come any closer," Hiro finished with a flinch. "Are you alright?"

"Am I dead?" Tadashi asked, sitting up and looking around. He rubbed his head, looking ahead at Hiro and being overcome with shock all over again. He ran for him once again, stopping two feet early. "You're alive!"

"I guess," Hiro shrugged, lowering his head.

"What was that blast?"

Hiro simply lifted his wrists up, which were held together by a glowing, golden chain.

"Those... _witches_ , they put these on me. I've been stuck here for days."

"It's only been an hour since Fred was in here, Hiro," Tadashi said, raising a brow. "What do you mean days?"

"It has-I know it's been longer than an hour," Hiro said, his hands shaking. Tadashi noticed his eyes were bloodshot and his face was white.

"Have you slept at all? You look..."

"Of course I can't sleep," Hiro scowled, his whole body shaking now. "They'll come back for me. I know it. I can't let them come back for me."

Tadashi was overcome with concern. He fell to his knees, getting as close to Hiro as he could.

"Fred said that you got hurt-we thought you were dead. Did they hurt you?"

Hiro swallowed hard, licking suddenly dry lips and lowering his hand to the lower part of his shirt. It was stained red, a large spot still spreading. Tadashi gasped.

"You're stabbed!"

Before Tadashi could press on, he began sinking into the ground, unable to escape. Like quicksand. Hiro looked on dreadfully, reaching for him only to retract in pain.

"Hiro! I'll come back, I'll make you better, I promise!"

"Tadashi, listen, the witches are here for souls!"

"Wh-what? What does that mean?"

"Tell the geniuses-they'll put two and two together. The witches are here for souls. Fireflies, Tadashi! _Fireflies!_ "

"I-I don't-" Tadashi looked down, realizing he was nearly completely sunk into the ground and back into the real world. He looked up one last time at his brother, crying out in horror at the witches standing behind Hiro, glaring.

And then, everything went black.

* * *

"...ashi!"

"Ta...shi!"

"TADASHI!"

The man was all but forced back to life, looking around himself in confusion. He was on the floor of the living room in the haunted house, surrounded by his friends. He had a piercing pain coursing through his head, and his friends were all wearing faces of deep concern.

"What happened?" Tadashi asked, rubbing his head.

"We were all just about worried _sick_ about you and your _idiocy_ , and after several minutes of waiting, you fell out of the ceiling! You fell out of the ceiling, just out of nowhere!"

Honey Lemon and Wasabi calmed Gogo down just slightly, sitting her down next to the fireplace and leaving her to breathe. Fred leaned toward Tadashi, his worried gaze unshaken.

"Was he...was he dead?"

"No, he's not dead, but he's dying, and he's scared and alone and I _have_ to go back!"

"NO!" Honey Lemon insisted. "I'm not letting you go back in there! Let's solve one puzzle at a time before we go rampaging into the afterlife, okay?"

"Puzzles. Solve puzzles," Tadashi whispered, grabbing the attention of the college students with ease.

"What?" Wasabi tilted his head.

"Solve puzzles. Hiro told me something...we could solve it. Like a puzzle."

"Okay. What was it?"

"Souls. He said...he told me the witches want souls. Fireflies, he said. 'The witches are here for souls. Fireflies.'"

"Alright, let's try and see what he meant," Gogo said in her most determined voice. "Fred, Honey, tell us about the witches."

"The witches have dark green skin and black, wet hair," Honey Lemon said. "They wear white gowns. They have yellow eyes. They're almost always surrounded by fireflies..."

"And they're the ones that make Hiro glow at night, I think," Fred chimed in. "They're strangely...invested in him. No one else. Isn't it weird that they kicked all of us out but Hiro?"

"Maybe Honey Lemon was bait," Wasabi suggested. "At the ritual. They knew Hiro would be dumb enough to go after her."

"Hey!" Honey Lemon frowned.

"They knew he would save her. It was the perfect distraction. But why?" Tadashi put his head in his hands. "Why him?"

 _Why not me,_ he thought.

"Oh, my god," Honey Lemon gasped, covering her mouth. "Oh my _god._ Oh my god! Tadashi!"

"What? What is it?"

"The witches want souls. The previous people that stayed in this house _never left,_ remember? And the fireflies, there were millions of them. And Hiro glowing at night and being like the fireflies-don't you get it?"

"No! I don't see it!" Wasabi said anxiously. "What do you see?!"

"Guys-the fireflies are people. They're souls! And Hiro..."

"He's turning into one of them," Tadashi said under his breath, staring at the ground in a mix of disgust, fear, concern: everything.

"We have to get in there," Gogo said, finally agreeing with Tadashi.

"Now."

* * *

 **short and simple before school starts again :(**


	6. Surgery in the Afterlife

**i might write a story in a distant future where hiro is a surgeon and tadashi has been working on baymax for too long to realize it what do u think**

* * *

Tadashi was now in instant-kill mode.

He was fully prepared for anything that came at him, and he was going to make sure his friends were as well. They would need ammunition, they would need weapons, they would need brains (which they were fully stocked with) and they would need first aid.

They had to act fast. In and out, clean cuts, clean plans. Get Hiro, destroy the women keeping him hostage. If they didn't act fast, Hiro could be too far gone.

Too late.

Tadashi didn't have experience in the field of last-minute decisions, especially when they involved his family's lives. He always planned things weeks ahead, and he always knew what he was doing. Or, at least, he liked to think so. Baymax was sculpted perfectly, his grades were stunning, and his home life has always been one he was proud of. Of course, Hiro was different. Hiro's grades were stunning as well, but he never planned ahead. He did everything on a whim, and growing up, his home life wasn't as stellar as Tadashi's, which he hated. Hiro grew up depressed having never met his mother or father. He was bullied through high school, and he struggled with rebellious decisions.

Besides these facts, Hiro wasn't a bad person. He didn't deserve a single thing that was happening to him right now, and Tadashi was doing everything in his power to prevent said things from happening. He just hoped his friends were on the same page.

* * *

It was cold. That was one thing Hiro would always remember very distinctly. It was damn near _freezing,_ and his pain was unimaginable.

He was dying an extremely slow death. Those women were going to kill him, he would be completely alone, and Tadashi would be oblivious in another universe. There was nothing he could do.

That, and the inevitable, inescapable fate he was facing. He was turning into a lost soul that would eternally be with these women. He couldn't let it happen but he didn't have a choice.

"Tadashi?" he whispered hoarsely, hugging his knees to his chest and looking up to the fireflies above. "Can you hurry? Can you come in here and save my life? Because..."

...

"I'm scared."

* * *

"Alright, gang. Remember: in and out. Get Hiro out of there before it's too late."

Tadashi, Honey Lemon, Gogo, Fred, and Wasabi stood huddled around the wall that seemed to be the hot spot for open portals. So far, the invisible portal hadn't closed yet, and this was something Tadashi clung to as a good thing. After all, why would the witches keep it open if Hiro didn't have a chance?

"So who's going to take down the witches?" Fred asked.

"I second that," Tadashi said. Honey Lemon and Wasabi nodded in agreement. "We need to take them down before they follow us back to San Fransokyo."

"Guys, I really don't think that's an option," Gogo said uneasily. This statement raised some eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

"These witches...they aren't human. This is paranormal-level activity. We can't just shoot them or hack them to death. They can't die. They've latched themselves to Hiro's soul and I don't think there's any reversing that."

...

"We'll see what we're dealing with when we're in there," Wasabi said, hoping that his words would wipe off the terrified gaze Tadashi held. Wasabi walked up to the all, stared at it for approximately five seconds, and then stepped inside. The others watched him disappear into the other universe. The other world.

"Okay...who's next?"

"Me!" Fred cheered, putting on his bravest face and marching to the wall. "I shall destroy the witches and the goblins and the-oof!"

Fred fell to the floor with a thud, rubbing his head from the sudden contact with the wall. The others gasped, and Tadashi ran and banged on the wall in defeat.

"No! Damnit, damnit, damnit!" Tadashi slid down the wall and tried to fight his tears as much as possible. "This can't be happening! Aunt Cass will never forgive me if I let him...if I..."

"Hey, hey, hey," Honey Lemon and Gogo rushed to comfort him. "Tadashi, you can't think like that. There could be other portals, and who knows? Wasabi is in there. He could be saving Hiro's life as we speak."

Tadashi nodded, standing up on his feet and clearing his throat.

"Search every inch of the house. I want to find that portal."

* * *

Wasabi waited for the others. They never came.

He waited while tremors shook his entire frame. He hated this place. It terrified him.

Sighing in defeat, he went to find Hiro. Maybe he was nearby, maybe not, but keeping his mind occupied was currently his main priority.

After walking for about five minutes, he stumbled upon Hiro. He was five feet away, and there was a strange purple swirl right above Hiro's head that was floating up to the sky. Wasabi dropped all concern for himself and transferred it to Hiro, sprinting to him as quickly as he could. The strange force field Tadashi had described to him and his friends seemed to have disappeared because Wasabi wasn't blasted away when he found him. He dropped to his knees and grabbed Hiro's face, taking everything in.

"Hiro, what's going on? Are you okay? Are we safe right now?"

Hiro coughed and shook his head. He must not be able to talk. His skin was white as snow, and he had a horribly bruised eye, a cut cheek, and a split lip. Tadashi would have a field day when he saw this.

"What's that swirling thing above you? Where is it going?"

"It's-my own...it's-"

Hiro coughed into his sleeve, closing his eyes and looking up at the large mass.

"It's my soul."

Wasabi's eyes widened, and he took in a sharp breath.

"Where else are you hurt? What can I fix?"

Hiro pointed to his stomach. His shirt was covered in blood, and Wasabi let out a deep sigh at the complicated equation he would have to solve. He thanked God he had been the one with Tadashi's bulky first aid kit. He ripped it open and began to dig through it to find what looked like could help Hiro's condition.

"Okay, okay, okay. Let me think."

Hiro stared at Wasabi as he thought long and hard about their current situation. Wasabi mumbled under his breath and moved his hands around as if he were talking to himself. Hiro didn't judge; he often did the same thing.

"Alright, Hiro. Lay down. Let me have a look at the wound."

Hiro obeyed, laying flat on his back and lifting his baggy t-shirt up for Wasabi to examine. The stab wound was becoming infected, and the rest of his torso had gone completely purple. Wasabi didn't have to be a medical genius to know what this means.

"Damn it. There's internal bleeding in your belly and chest. I don't know what to...I don't...I need Tadashi."

"Hey," Hiro grabbed Wasabi's shaking hand, looking him directly in the eye. "So do I. But we can make it on our own without the doofus. I've studied medicine, so I know a bit about this stuff. We can walk through it together."

"Hiro, you can't-this is insane."

"I'm bleeding internally, and you're gonna have to cut me open. Tadashi's got everything that he would need to do that in the bag, so I'm going to walk you through it."

"Hiro, are you-are you fucking with me right now? Do you realize that you're asking me to cut you open and..."

"Yes."

"You're asking me to perform real surgery."

"Yes."

"You're asking me, Wasabi, to-"

"I know, damn it! Grab the scalpel in the front pocket and let's get this over with! There's no anesthesia, so I'm going to need a medical cloth to bite down on. Pain is a bitch."

"Oh, my god."

"You'll need the scalpel, the medical cloth, some gauze, and there should be a portable suction system in there to get all that blood out. When we find the source of the bleed, we'll work from there."

"Tadashi is going to kill me if I do this."

"Tadashi's a bitch and you don't need him," Hiro said with a smile. "I need him too. I need that bonehead right next to me to hold my hand and tell me that everything's gonna be alright, even if it's not. That's what the hell I need. But in physical field of mind, I actually need surgery. Can you do that for me? Can you be my surgeon for a rough hour?"

"I...Yes. Yes, I can do that for you."

"Good. Now, make the first cut, and don't cut too deep. Don't wanna rupture an artery."

Wasabi swallowed his wave of sickness. This was the worst thing he would ever do. He snapped his gloves on and covered his mouth with a medical mask.

His scalpel hovered over Hiro's body for a brief minute, but he finally made contact.

Hiro screamed into the medical cloth.

* * *

Honey Lemon found it when she was in the attic.

A portal to Hiro's world, right in his bed. She called the others up, and Fred jumped straight into it. They tried to stop him, but it was too late. He was in the other universe, and the portal had closed.

"I think only one person can go in at a time," Gogo mumbled. "What an idiot. Never stops to hear what we have to say."

"I can't take this anymore!" Tadashi shouted, grabbing a fistful of his hair. "We've gotta go in there!"

"I don't think you have to wait anymore," Honey Lemon said, pointing to the ground. Tadashi's shoes and his shins were sinking into the ground as they spoke, and now it was only a matter of time before he would be with Hiro.

"I'll see you on the other side," Tadashi said before disappearing into the ground below.

* * *

"Okay, I know it hurts, but I need to know what to do now."

Hiro choked back another shout of agony, clearing his throat and licking his lips.

"First, check my pulse. How is my heart rate?"

"Uh, it's beating really fast..."

"Yeah, no shit. What else?"

"Well...it's...it's rather weak if I'm honest."

"It'll do," Hiro groaned. "Okay, what do you see?"

"There's blood pooling around what I want to say your liver and stomach."

"Alright...Get the suction system and put the tube in there. Make sure it hovers above the pool so you don't suck up anything else."

Wasabi did as he was told, looking to Hiro for further instructions.

"Now, try and find the source of the bleeding."

Wasabi looked closely at Hiro's open body, searching for any direction in which the blood could be coming. He found it right where Hiro had been stabbed, and he felt stupid for not looking there sooner.

"There's a bleed down here. It's probably coming from...I don't really know anatomy. I want to say it's your artery? I don't know!"

"Okay, I know what you're saying. Take deep breaths and get some cloth in there."

Wasabi put pressure on the wound with the cloth, making Hiro shout again into his cloth. Wasabi flinched, he hated hurting his best friend's little brother.

"Wasabi? Hiro?"

Wasabi snapped his head up at the sound of Fred's voice. He let out a large sigh of relief, even though he knew that Fred wouldn't be able to contribute anything to their current situation.

"Fred, thank God. I had to help Hiro, he said surgery was the best option."

"Why?!" Fred gasped. "Do you know how much bacteria is in this place? That will only make everything worse! Everything is infected now!"

"No, it's not!" Hiro protested. "Fred, come over here and hold my hand. Everything hurts."

Fred was about to say something, but a glare from Wasabi was all it took for him to get the message. Fred sat down next to Hiro and held his hand.

"Tadashi's here," Fred said. "He came a little while after me. We split up to find you."

Hiro's gaze turned worrisome but he chose to close his eyes and hope for the best.

* * *

Tadashi heard Hiro screaming. He didn't know where it was coming from, but he could hear it clearly. He could hear Wasabi asking his brother for help, and he could hear Fred going off on the two about a mistake they made.

Tadashi had to find them, but there was no telling where they were. Not in this abyss.

Now, he was truly lost and alone.

* * *

 **i'll be back soon i swear.**


	7. One Soul

**school sux!**

* * *

Hiro had walked Wasabi through the whole procedure, even if it had been through gritted teeth and painful moans. Even though Wasabi did everything well, that is, for a college student with no medical experience, Hiro had still lost a lot of blood prior to the surgery. The stabbing, the cutting open, it had taken a large toll on his young body. He just hoped that he would get out of there before he was gone for good.

Tadashi hadn't shown up like Fred had said he would.

"He's coming. We split up, but he's coming."

Hiro didn't think it was right to believe him. He felt something wrong deep down, and it wasn't physical.

"Where is he, then?"

* * *

Tadashi was shaking violently. He didn't know where he was. All he saw was black.

Everything was dark and cold. Wait, no, it was warm. It was boiling hot...no, that's not right. It's ice cold. Yes. That's it.

Tadashi uneasily trucked on, hoping that Honey Lemon or Gogo would come down soon. If he was being honest with himself, however, he hoped he would see Hiro, alive and well...

And him.

* * *

Hiro was laying down on his back, trying to calm his beating heart as it pumped the little blood that he had. Wasabi sat beside him, squeezing his hand and implying the words. He would be alright. The truth to his words at the moment would remain unknown.

Fred sat on his other side, remaining silent throughout the ordeal. He continuously looked behind him to see if Tadashi, if _anyone_ was coming for help. Of course, the abyss remained an abyss.

"Wasabi?"

"Hm?"

"I think," Hiro started, taking a few deep breaths. Talking put a lot of stress on his lungs. "I think this may have all been for nothing."

"The surgery?"

"No...the witches. They told me something a while ago. I was by myself, and they told me something."

"Okay...what did they say?" Fred asked, leaning forward with interest.

"They told me...they told me that we can't leave the house until they have one soul."

...

"Which means..." Fred pressed on.

"Which means that six of us came here and five of us are leaving," Wasabi finished, eyes filled with horror. "Hiro, why wouldn't you tell us?"

"I was afraid you would leave me alone, and I know it's selfish. But time is different here. I feel like I've been here for _days,_ and being alone has been the worst feeling. I just needed someone to save me. I didn't want to chase you off."

"Hiro, we would never. We wouldn't leave you behind. We'll figure this out. We're _all_ leaving here together. I promise."

Hiro nodded and smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes.

* * *

As Tadashi walked, rubbing his arms to keep warm in the constantly-changing temperature, he heard something. It was faint at first, but there nonetheless. It was a terrible, blood-curdling scream, and it was Honey Lemon's.

She came running toward him in a sprint. She was covered in blood and dirt. Tadashi ran to her and looked her up and down, praying it wasn't her blood.

"What the hell-"

"Tadashi! Tadashi, I don't know what _happened-_ "

"GET OUT!" a voice boomed behind the two. It was the two witches, and this time they weren't playing games or joking with riddles or shutting closet doors for scares. They were out for blood and souls.

"Where's Gogo?" Tadashi asked.

"Back at the house, I don't know! Come on, run!"

Tadashi chose to take her advice, sprinting as fast as he could wherever Honey Lemon would take him. He wasn't dying here, not without seeing his brother and making sure everyone was safe first.

After running for about five minutes, the witches still close by, they stumbled upon Wasabi, Fred, and a weird jumble of jackets and medical equipment on the floor. There was also a large purple swirl hovering above the clothes. It reminded him of his brother.

"Wasabi! Fred!" Tadashi and Honey Lemon said in unison. "What are you guys doing? Why is there blood everywhere, and what's all of this mess?"

Wasabi looked down at the jumble of clothes and jackets, unsure of what to say to the frantic brother. On one hand, telling Tadashi what he had done to Hiro would be a certain death sentence. On the other hand...

"Wasabi?" Tadashi asked. "Where's Hiro? Did you find him?"

Fred looked up at Tadashi and cleared his throat, moving a portion of the jackets to reveal a hand held tightly in his. It was white, shaky, and bony, but it was there. Its implications made Tadashi's heart skip a beat.

"N-no...Hiro!"

He knelt down and ripped the jacket away from on top of his brother, taking in everything at once. He was covered in blood, and his skin was a dangerous yellow and white. Hiro's eyes fluttered at the sight of Tadashi, and a small grin crossed his face.

"T..adash..?"

"Shh, don't talk, Hiro," Wasabi said gently, looking up at Tadashi with careful eyes. "The surgery was really hard on his body. Be gentle with him."

"I-I'm sorry," Tadashi scoffed. "What did you just say?"

"The surgery," Fred said in a high-pitched, enthusiastic voice. "Hiro walked Wasabi through the whole thing-it was epic! I _totally_ wasn't for it at first, believe me-"

"You did WHAT?"

"Guys?"

Everyone whipped their heads behind them, seeing Gogo several feet away. She was far, but the minute Tadashi waved his hand and called "over here!" she was jogging toward them. She would be running for a while. Tadashi didn't know where the witches had gone, but as long as they were out of sight, Hiro was the only thing on his mind. He lifted Hiro's shirt to see where this "surgery" was, and almost vomited everything in his stomach when he saw the sutures.

They were uneven, red and blue, and blood was seeping through them, but Tadashi knew as well as anyone that they would have to do for now.

"Tadashi, I'm really sorry I had to do that, but-"

"Just-save it, Wasabi," Tadashi said, and his tone was final. Wasabi shrunk back, not saying another word.

"Tadashi, listen," Fred began, putting his hand on Tadashi's shoulder. "Hiro told us something you need to know."

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Hiro said that the witches won't let any of us leave until they've got one soul."

"One soul?" Honey Lemon inquired, looking back and forth between Tadashi and Fred. "You don't mean..."

"One of us won't be leaving here," Fred finished. "And there's nothing we can do to stop it. It could be Hiro, it could be me..."

"It could be-"

"Guys, I'm coming!" Gogo called from afar, still having a ways to go. Suddenly, as the others were turning to acknowledge her remark, a jolting sound boomed through the abyss they were all in, and Wasabi screamed at the sight.

Gogo had been stabbed through the chest, and when she swayed and collapsed, the witches were standing behind her.

"NO!"

"Gogo! NO!"

The group had abandoned a screaming Hiro on the ground, who was reaching for Gogo in agony. Before the others could reach Gogo, the witches send a bright light their way.

Then everything went dark.

* * *

Wasabi was the first one to wake up. He was on the living room floor of the townhouse, and his friends were there on the ground with him. They all slowly came to as Wasabi sat up. There was still a purple swirl above Hiro's head, and it was suddenly sucked back into his body, His face returned to a slight pink, but he would still need a hospital.

At least he was his soul back.

With that thought, everyone remembered what had happened. The witches took Gogo's soul. Gogo was dead.

Leiko Tomago had died in New York on October 27th, 2033.

And they would all live in agony for it, every day of their lives.

The phone rang suddenly, but no one made a move to answer it. Hiro stood slowly and limped toward it, and Tadashi jumped up after him to help him walk. Hiro nodded in gratitude, picking up the phone and licking his lips.

"H-hello?"

"Hiro? Baby, is that you? Are you sick?"

"Hi, Aunt Cass."

At that sentence, Tadashi took in a sharp inhale of air. This would not be an easy conversation.

"How are you guys? The convention ended yesterday, I've tried calling for hours! I won! Hiro, we have so much money! We can do _so_ much! Get Tadashi on the phone-oh, wait! Get Gogo! I promised that if I won, she would work for me in the cafe and help me make some updates on the building!"

"Cass.."

"Hiro? What's wrong?"

"I..."

"Hiro?"

Before Hiro could get the words out, he collapsed to the ground, unconscious. The last thing he heard was Tadashi screaming and Aunt Cass's frantic voice.

And, faintly, in the back of his mind, he heard Gogo. She was saying something rude but friendly to his conscience, and it made his lip tug up just slightly before he faded away.

* * *

 **pls review it gives me wiiiiiings**


	8. I Learned That From You

**a review a day keeps me updating :)**

* * *

Hiro found irony in the situation.

He didn't really know why. He didn't know why he could feel or think anything in the first place. His best friend, his mentor, and his favorite study buddy was dead. Not only that, but he had asked another close friend of his to cut him open and save his life.

Now he was in real medical care, being rushed on a gurney inside of an emergency room. The paramedic listed his symptoms vaguely in the background of chaos, and Tadashi was hovering over him all the way, sprinting along with the doctors to a trauma room.

"Please," he heard Tadashi say. "You have to help him-he's all we've got. Please."

"Sir, we're going to have to-"

"No! No, not yet."

"Push ten of epi!"

Hiro's mind fogged up just slightly as a breathing mask was wrapped on his face, and his ability to hear was slowly beginning to fade. Tadashi had been forced to the side, but he was still in the trauma room watching through terrified eyes. The doctors worked frantically to assess Hiro's injuries and Hiro was slightly nervous that they would freak at his surgical suture.

They lifted his shirt, making the others gasp loudly. One of the doctors examined more closely.

"Jesus. Who the hell did this terrible stitching job?"

"That's not important. What's important is that it's either a basic stitch...or it's a surgical suture."

"You mean someone cut this boy open? He's only a kid..."

"Let's get to work, then!"

Hiro felt a terrible pain in his chest and lost all ability to think anything from the unimaginable agony. He faded away too quickly and his heart monitor beeped rapidly beside him. Tadashi hugged himself in anxiety as he watched the scene unfold while one of the doctors beside him pulled out a stethoscope and placed it on his chest, listening closely.

"His left lung has collapsed! We need to get him to an O.R. right now! Macie, prep O.R. one and let a nurse know we're on our way!"

"And someone get this man out of here! He can't be here to see this."

"Wait, please! Don't take him away-what if I don't see him again?"

"We'll try our best-now step out of the way."

And just like that, Tadashi watched in quick, heavy breaths as they rushed his brother to an O.R., taking in as much of him as he could before the swinging doors slammed right in his horrified face.

* * *

Tadashi trudged back to the emergency waiting room where he met his friends, Wasabi, Fred, Honey Lemon, and...

Oh. Nevermind.

"What's the word?" Wasabi asked frantically. "Where is he now?"

"He's, uhm...he was rushed up to surgery before I could get all of the information. His left lung collapsed and they dropped everything. Rushed him to an operating room. That's all I know."

Honey Lemon touched her chest, specifically where her heart was, feeling the ache of the terrible news. She couldn't lose another friend, not when a person she considered a sister had ceased to exist only hours before.

"Don't worry, Tadashi," Fred chimed in with a smile. "Hiro is such a strong person, and we all know it. He'll persevere. Yeah?"

Tadashi nodded, collapsing into a chair and letting out a large puff of air. It was still all sinking in for him, and the image of Gogo's bloody, beaten body replayed in his mind every second like a broken record. He missed her so dearly, and his chest was aching as if she were torturing him herself.

All they could do now was wait for however long it took, and they were more than willing.

* * *

"Ten blade."

The surgeon mad the first incision into Hiro's chest, working with fast, steady hands to fix his collapsed lung. She didn't know what had happened to this boy, but she knew she would have to call social services and find out why his brother hadn't been there to stop this from happening.

Further along in the surgery, about forty-five minutes later, they decided to move on to the stomach where the previous "surgery" had happened. They made some disturbing discoveries, but somehow they looked as if they may have done some good. There was one suture near the liver that was preventing an internal bleed, and another doing the same thing. The doctors raised eyebrows about it nonetheless.

* * *

Aunt Cass arrived after they waited for three hours in the hospital. She was shaking and asking several questions.

"What happened to Hiro? Why weren't you guys answering my phone calls? What were you saying about the house? Are you guys all right? And, hey, where's Gogo? Is she back at the house? Did she leave New York?"

They all looked down in sorrow until Honey Lemon let out a heart-wrenching cry, burying her face in her trembling hands.

"Oh, god...is Hiro...?"

"No, he's in surgery," Tadashi whispered. "I'm...We're waiting for an update."

"So, then, where's Gogo?"

Tadashi explained that when they arrived at the house, strange things started happening. She didn't understand. He continued, saying that the strange things lead to much more disturbing things and that one by one they were disappearing.

Of course, this still didn't make sense to her whatsoever.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

They had finished his surgery, and Hiro was in a recovery room to be analyzed further. The surgeon that had operated on the teen, Doctor Bradley, approached the worrisome family in the waiting room, still in her surgery gown and cap. The brother saw her walking toward them and stood up in a heartbeat, followed by the others.

"The surgery was a fairly complicated procedure," she began, looking over her clipboard. "We found some troubling things that we'll need to question you about. Just to avoid social services for the time being."

"'For the time being?'" Aunt Cass asked, clutching her chest in worry.

"The sooner one of you comes with me and explains to me what exactly happened to that poor kid, the better your chances are of avoiding social services altogether. So, who wants to come with me? He's only seventeen, so he's got good chances."

"Wasabi, come with me," Tadashi said. "You were the one that actually...you know."

Wasabi nodded, though there was no hiding the stress in his casualty. They followed the woman into an office down the hallway and they sat in the two chairs in front of her desk. She let out a deep breath, collapsed into her chair, and leaned forward, glancing between the men.

"So, let's get started. Tell me how he got hurt this way."

Tadashi blanked and suddenly realized the mistake he'd made in following her in here. He didn't have a story to tell, or at least one she would believe. He simply stared dumbly at her, the gears in his mind desperately attempting to shift and come up with something, anything.

"We were at a rented townhouse last night," Wasabi said, and Tadashi physically tensed when he began to speak. "We, uhm...we were just hanging out at first when Hiro said he was going to run across the street to grab a snack at the local convenient store."

"And that's something you let him do often?" The doctor asked, a notebook in hand. "Does he usually go by himself to run errands?"

"Well, again, we don't live here, but Hiro can drive and take care of himself. I believe that's safe to say."

"Of course. Continue."

"It started to rain very hard while he was out, but when he returned, he had slipped on the steps up to the townhouse. Tadashi and I were none the wiser. We didn't hear him or see him."

"Oh, yes," she said, clicking her pen absentmindedly. "That was a terrible storm last night."

Wasabi froze, realizing that he hadn't known the forecast last night due to his presence in the abyss. He was lucky, to say the least.

"Our electricity had gone out at this point," Tadashi began contributing to this concoction of a story that Wasabi was attempting, and he started to see how it could potentially end. He felt guilty for some reason, like he was disgracing Hiro's story and Gogo's fate, but they had to keep social services away. "Our phones couldn't charge, so we had no way to contact Hiro or any type of authority. I had stepped outside later when I saw him. It was terrible. He'd hit his head and concussed, as I'm sure you saw. He also seemed to had seriously hurt his stomach, and Wasabi and I both feared a possibility of internal bleeding."

"You boys sure know your stuff. Hiro is very lucky to have had you on the scene."

"Yes. Very Lucky," Tadashi said under his breath. The truth of the matter was that he hadn't been able to reach his brother in time no matter how hard he'd tried and he still couldn't forgive himself for that but there were more important things in the forefront of his mind at the moment.

"Tadashi and I immediately dragged him inside with the help of our friends and used the little resources we had to call 911, but it was no use. The phone lines were dead. So, Hiro woke up. He was tired and in pain but he's been studying medicine in college and he had an idea."

"He's in college? Shouldn't he just be a senior in high school?"

"He graduated when he was thirteen," Tadashi said.

"That's amazing. He wants to be a doctor?"

"We'll see," Tadashi replied. "He's seemed to take an interest in several things, but he's still figuring himself out. That's why I was personally devastated when I realized the extent of his injuries. I didn't want him to be so hurt to the point he would be throwing away everything he was. He's an inventor, and he was nearly dead today as well."

"I see," she murmured. "Continue. What was his idea?"

"We tried talking him out of it, but we realized he didn't have that kind of time," Wasabi said. "He insisted that we perform a surgery in the house. Tadashi had a medical kit that he takes with him everywhere, and it had all of the necessary equipment to get the job done. I ended up being the one to perform it, and Hiro talked me through it. I had to admit, under all of the pressure and intensity of the situation, I was impressed by his perseverance."

The surgeon's jaw had dropped at this point, completely baffled by the information she was just given.

"You...you performed those sutures that were preventing the bleeding?"

"Yes, ma'am," Wasabi replied sheepishly, sinking deep into his chair. She could easily scold him for his stupidity, tell him how he almost murdered Hiro, reprimand him for his thoughtless actions, but instead...

"You saved his life. He saved his life. How did he know what...?"

"That, I will never know myself."

"And where were you?" she asked Tadashi. "From what I've picked up on you, you would've been the first to shoot the idea down."

"I, myself, insisted that it wasn't an option and proceeded to run to stores across the street, begging for help and asking for a phone. The power was out in these stores as well, but it picked up quickly after. We were up and running, the ambulance was on its way, so all I had to do then was go and check on my brother. That's when I saw what happened. The blood, the stitches, everything. It was terrible, but I think it's what ended up saving his life. Wasabi saved my baby brother, and I'll always be grateful for that."

Wasabi smiled to himself, looking down at his hands in satisfaction. He'd saved someone's life, and Tadashi hadn't been as mad at him as he initially thought. He just wished Gogo were here to celebrate with him, even if she wouldn't have been as jazzed about it as he was.

"Well, I have everything I need. You boys were incredibly brave today, and I'll be sure to tell social services that this was all in good hands. Well done."

Tadashi and Wasabi shook her hand, thanked her and left the room. She had given them his room number, suggesting they visit only a few at a time to ease his aching head. They got to Hiro's room, standing in front of the door and hesitating to enter.

"I should probably go in first," Tadashi said. "He'll want to see me, and I _need_ to see him. Is that okay?"

"Yes, of course," Wasabi nodded. "I'll go tell the others where his room is. You go ahead and go in."

"Wasabi?" Tadashi stopped him just before he was turning to leave. Wasabi quirked an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"I need to do something."

"Okay."

Tadashi pulled his fist back and punched Wasabi square in the face, causing Wasabi to double back in shock and cup his nose. He shot wide eyes up at his friend, the friend that was known to never in a _million years_ inflict pain on another human being.

"You punched me," Wasabi stated, his brown eyes searching for an answer.

"That's for cutting my brother open," Tadashi said before pulling Wasabi into a tight hug. "And so is this."

Wasabi stiffened, slowly wrapping his arms around the man and slowly understanding the situation's significance. This was all happening for a reason, even if it was a reason he didn't understand or want to happen. Gogo shouldn't have been killed. They shouldn't have gone to New York. Hiro shouldn't be in a hospital. But here they were.

"I'm gonna go see a nurse now," Wasabi said, pulling out of the hug and waving slowly at Tadashi as he left. Tadashi waved back, looking back at the hospital door in dread. He clicked the doorknob open, walking in and taking in the figure in the bed.

He was beaten but he was no longer as bloody as he had been in the abyss he was held captive in. He was pale and he was very much asleep, so Tadashi simply sat beside his brother and took hold of his hand. He would be here whenever he woke up no matter what.

The room was painted orange and it had purple trimming with random photos of valleys and forests, perhaps to calm trauma patients at the sight. The only lighting in the room was a small lamp next to the sink and a pumpkin candle on Hiro's bedside. Pumpkin was Hiro's favorite. So was purple.

Just as he thought this, his brother's eyes fluttered open and he looked around the room in curiosity. Tadashi tightened his grip on the teenager's hand so to ensure his presence. Hiro slightly jumped at the action, licking suddenly dry lips and closing his eyes.

"It wasn't a dream, was it?" Hiro asked. "I was really tortured by paranormal beings and cut open by one of my best friends, wasn't I? Gogo is really gone?"

"It was all real," Tadashi replied, heartbroken. "Yeah, bro. That all happened. And I'm so sorry it did. I'm the one that picked the townhouse, I'm-"

"Don't," Hiro cut him off, attempting to raise his arm only to realize that it was in a sling. He raised an eyebrow, not remembering breaking his arm.

"You fell this morning after everything happened. You broke your collarbone."

"I see," Hiro sniffled, grabbing a fistful of his blanket with his remaining hand. "Tadashi, listen. An accident as large as this...there could never be a single person behind it. It's not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't."

"I hurt you," Tadashi said, devastated. "I hurt everyone."

"But you didn't. You were doing something kind for all of us. You did a good thing. It just ended up turning into something deadly, and that's not your fault."

"I'm sorry I let you go," Tadashi continued. "I'm sorry I let you get dragged up the attic steps. I'm sorry the witches chose you and not me. I'm sorry."

"Okay," Hiro said. Tadashi knew his words hadn't gotten to his little brother. He was stubborn, and that would never change. "That doesn't change how I feel about all of this. Not everything is your fault. You always think it is, but it isn't. Give yourself a single minute of innocence. I think you'll like how it feels."

Tadashi let his words seep into his mind, and he took them to heart. He was right. There was no way he could have possibly known that his brother would be hurt so badly or that Gogo would be killed or that Honey Lemon and the others would vanish one by one.

 _This wasn't your fault. This wasn't your fault._

He let out a deep breath, taking Hiro's hand once more and looking deeply into his eyes.

"Thank you," he said. "Thank you for everything you did. Thank you for pulling me out of the couch, thank you for running after Honey Lemon, thank you for protecting Fred in that basement, thank you for warning me when I first saw you, thank you for telling Wasabi to cut you open, and thank you for not dying. You had been working in the background to save us all, the _whole_ time, and I didn't even realize it. So thank you. You're such a caring person, and mom and dad would be proud."

Hiro smiled softly, allowing a small tear to make its way down his face.

"I would do anything for my family. I learned that from you."

* * *

Hiro had fallen asleep after hours of visitation from Aunt Cass, Tadashi, and his friends. They mourned Gogo and suffered through an unimaginable grief, but at least they were together for it. They would defend her legacy and keep her memory alive.

Tadashi insisted that Wasabi, Fred, and Honey Lemon take the next flight home. Hiro wouldn't be released until the next day, and he didn't want to ask any more of his friends. Of course, they refused. They booked a hotel room and went to rest, and Aunt Cass called someone to deliver their things from the townhouse to the hotel. But no matter what, they insisted that they were leaving New York together.

For an odd reason, Hiro stopped making eye contact with his family after an hour of being with them. Tadashi figured that it was his medicine, but every time Hiro glanced at the far corner, he physically chilled and turned away with a wince. Tadashi saw nothing in the corner and wondered what he was missing.

Not only that, but Hiro's eyes had lost the glow that had initially been there when he woke up to Tadashi. There was a terrifying factor to the look that Tadashi couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Visiting hours are over," a nurse informed the group, making them all sigh in defeat.

"We'll be back before you know it, sport," Aunt Cass smirked, rounding the bed and kissing his cheek.

"Yeah, little dude. Persevere! We'll be right across the street at the hotel."

"Bye, Hiro! We love you, and we're glad you're okay!"

Hiro waved, still lost without his smile and usual light to his personality. Tadashi frowned, being the last one to leave the room. He cleared his throat.

"Hiro, it's going to be okay. We'll figure this out. Loosen up, yeah? You seem tense."

Hiro tried to speak, but he physically couldn't build up the courage. He wanted to beg Tadashi to come back and tell him what was wrong, but he felt a strain around his entire body that he couldn't resist. He couldn't fight the bile rising in him.

The door clicked shut. The room darkened. His candle blew out. A cold atmosphere dropped into the room. Hiro sat up straight, looking directly at the corner he'd been staring at for over an hour.

One of the witches from the house was standing there, staring at him.

Hiro swallowed, trying not to accept what he'd been seeing but there was no hiding his terror. He had to face his demons, even if he knew exactly how it would end.

"You're here for me, aren't you?"

The witch didn't move. She didn't flinch. He knew she'd heard him, but she didn't communicate like a real person. She responded in her own ways.

"You're here to take me, right? To be one of them?"

The witch shifted this time. Hiro sat up straighter, a realization he'd been hoping was true dawned upon him. Maybe something good would come out of this after all, even if it devastated those around them.

"You never killed Gogo, did you? It was all a set-up. You were always going to take me, the whole time. Gogo's alive. You're bringing her back. And you knew exactly how to deceive everyone around me to make it work. You perfected every detail, and now you're here to finish the job. You're taking me to be with you for eternity."

The witch didn't move. She didn't flinch. She stood her ground, staring deep into Hiro's terrified eyes before lunging at him, screaming in the action. Everything in Hiro's world, his memories, his family, his brother, they all flashed into his vision before he felt a sharp pain...

And it all went away.

* * *

Tadashi had received a phone call from the hospital. It was emergent. They rushed to the building and were told that Hiro was gone but in his place was Gogo. This startled everyone to an entirely different level and a worrisome Tadashi searched every inch of the hospital for Hiro.

They hadn't found a single trace of him.

They ended up reporting the incident to the police immediately, where he was then pronounced a missing person. This terrified Tadashi to no end, seeing as they were in New York City and didn't know the city as well as they knew San Fransokyo. Because Hiro was so young, the police decided to take action as soon as possible, questioning his family, his friends, and every doctor, nurse, and surgeon that was on Hiro's file, including the paramedics and the trauma department.

None of them could provide any decent information on his sudden disappearance and not a single person had any idea who the woman in his place was.

Of course, the team was overwhelmed with joy at the sight of Gogo, even if she was confused and drowsy. Tadashi, feeling beyond guilty, hadn't even acknowledged her presence. The minute he heard about Hiro being gone, it was the only thing he could focus on. Aunt Cass felt the same, though she at least gave Gogo a warm and gentle embrace.

Tadashi could only hug himself and try to calm his beating heart, unable to shake away the terrible feeling in his gut.

Eventually, Gogo was well enough to speak and she told her friends the horrible truth.

The witch hadn't killed her like they all thought. It was all a set-up. She had been taken to a basement and held there with no food and no water for two days until one of the witches released her and took her through the real world. Hiro hadn't been able to see her, but he saw the witch standing in his hospital room.

The witch was silent, but Hiro knew why she had come. She came to take him away and never to return. She came to turn him into something inhumane and non-existent.

She came to rip him away from everything he knew.

Tadashi let out a gut-wrenching sob as Gogo continued her story. It was all true; Hiro was gone and there was nothing on earth that would be able to bring him back. He was lost in the wind, as insignificant as a firefly.

He had ceased to exist.

* * *

 **tsukinoshijima sorry lol but tadashi ended up punching wasabi :)**

 **so this is gonna be a shock but this is actually the end of the story. if i get enough reviews i might do a sequel but honestly this story wasn't as succesful as i'd hoped with reviews, follows and favorites. i'll probably do a sequel if this chapter gets enough attention but if not, it's a cliff hanger for all :( anyways, i hope you've all enjoyed this one. i put as much effort into it as i could considering im at for for ten hours a day with rehearsal for drill team and im never on my computer. you've all been understanding when it comes to my lack of presence and i appreciate that. please follow, favorite, and review so that i can continue tinkering with this plot. (also just wondering if anyone else is as excited as i am for the big her 6 tv series coming next month holy shit)**


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